Baby Steps
by ilovepuppies125
Summary: Sam and Danny don't know what happened, but they do know that something did. Now they are having to face the challenges of parenthood at only sixteen. How will their families react? How will their school react? How will Tucker react? And how will they be able to raise a baby that has ghost powers? DXS
1. Chapter 1

**Curse my constant starting of new stories when I cannot even finish other ones. But, either way, I'm writing this now, it will not be a priority but it still might be updated often (or not) because it all depends on my level of inspiration. And since I'm taking the time to write this, the inspiration is here now, so we'll see what happens. Enjoy.**

Chapter 1:

Sam POV-

The yellow-white light behind my eyelids alerted me that it was daytime, but I wasn't quite ready to wake up yet, so I just laid in bed like that: unmoving, with my eyes closed, and with a blanket pulled up to my neck, for a few minutes. After realizing that I would not be falling back to sleep this morning, I opened my eyes.

Immediately, I knew something was wrong. I was in my bedroom: black and violet, but still with its reminiscent influence of my preppy mother shining through, and suddenly, I could not remember, how I had gotten there. Danny, Tucker and I had been at a party the night before, that much I remembered.

It was technically a school function (which is why we had been invited in the first place), but no one except the popular kids, who the "we made it to the championship" celebration was actually for, wanted to be there. Tucker had ditched us early, trailing after some girl, who wouldn't give him the time of day, like a lost puppy, so Danny and I basically hung together the rest of the night. I remember that the punch had tasted bad: watery, and with a bitter aftertaste, so we didn't even finish our first glasses. But, I could not have possibly gotten drunk to the point where I wouldn't remember the night before, from one sip of the punch that we were not even sure was spiked.

I remember we left shortly after that. I remember that we had no specific destination in mind, we just sort of, walked.

Amity Park is a really small town, and basically everyone and everything is shut down and asleep by ten o'clock, so there was no one on the streets.

I remember Danny's ghost sense had gone off, but we never saw the ghost causing it. After that, nothing. I could not remember where we went, what we did, or how I got home, in my bed, after that.

'_Maybe this is some kind of ghost-induced memory loss?' _I considered. It wouldn't be the first time. Once I had wished that I had never met Danny, and he and Tucker completely forgot who I was…but this time, I had not made a wish.

I shook my head.

'_It doesn't matter now,' _I convinced myself, '_At least I'm home, and I'm safe. Maybe I should call Danny to make sure he got home alright. Maybe he knows what happened last night,' _I decided, swinging my feet over the side of the bed and standing up.

I let out a quiet, strained, yelp as I looked down at myself. I wasn't wearing anything.

I had never slept naked before, and it seemed weird to me that I would come home and get undressed and go to bed without putting anything else on.

'_Okay,' _I tried to steady my breathing as I sat back down on my bed, '_Now, I should be concerned.'_

My mind had created about a hundred scenarios about what might have happened last night, none of them were good.

'_I need to call Danny,' _I thought, with more conviction this time. I pulled the throw blanket off of my bed and wrapped it around myself, just in case my parents were to walk in, and picked up my cellphone from my dresser. There was a new crack down the case, yet another consequence of a when my mind had blanked between last night and tonight, I assumed.

I dialed Danny's number, one of the few I know by heart. Then, as the phone started to ring, I jumped at a noise from the other side of the room. It was music. Danny's favorite song by Humpty Dumpty.

My heart stopped when I heard a groan.

I immediately hit the "End Call" button, and hesitantly moved toward where the noise had come from. One the other side of my bed, what I _thought _had just been a wad of blankets, groaned again, and shifted under the covers.

I stood still, watching from the foot of my bed. A hand stuck out from under the covers, stretching.

Then, he sat up, and, from where I was standing, I could tell he wasn't wearing a shirt. He rubbed his eyes, and then ran a hand through his black hair.

It was Danny.

I had no idea what to say, or what to do, for that matter, so I just stood there, my mouth agape, wondering what to do.

He opened his eyes, and took approximately five seconds to realize that he was not in his room. He sprung up (shit, no pants either) and looked around frantically. Then he noticed me wrapped in my blanket and looking at him with complete disbelief. He looked down at himself and cursed, picking up some sheets off of the floor and covering himself. Then he looked at me. Another two seconds passed and I saw the realization of the implications register on his face.

"Sam…" he said finally. I didn't answer, I couldn't answer, all I could do was nod, "…what…what happened last night?"

I gulped, and suddenly found my voice.

"I was really hoping you knew," I muttered sitting down on the bed.

"Did…did we, you know…" he stuttered.

"I think so…" I said in a whisper. Danny cursed again and the hand that wasn't holding up the sheets, through his hair.

He sat down on the bed, looking utterly distraught.

"Umm…" I said uncertainly, "What do you remember from last night?"

Danny shook his head, like he was trying to recall the details. "We were at the party, Tucker ditched us, we had punch…punch, do you think it was the punch?" he asked.

"Even if it was spiked, we had one sip. And plus, I thought you said that you couldn't get drunk," I remembered.

"…I can't…" he said quietly, almost as I it was to himself, "my ghost powers make my metabolism too high for me to get drunk."

"Okay…" I took this into consideration, "What do you remember after the punch?"

"We left," he stated simply, "We went downtown…my ghost sense went off and…and…"

"That's all I remember too," I told him.

"So…you think a ghost…" he trailed off not knowing what to say because neither of us knew what a ghost could have possibly done to get us into this situation, or why.

We were silent for a few minutes, not looking at each other, just looking down, thinking.

"So what do we do now?" he asked in barely a whisper, begging me to have an answer, because it was obvious that he had no idea what to do.

I shook my head slowly.

"Well, for starters, we can't tell anyone, especially not Tucker," I told him. He nodded in complete agreement. Tucker may be our best friend, but he's also kind of a gossip, who is desperate for popular people to notice him. So if he thought that saying something about _this _to Paulina would make him popular, he probably would, even if it wasn't intentional, and then it would be all over the school by the end of the day. Not to mention, if we told Tucker, neither of us would ever live it down.

"You should go home. I'm sure your parents are worried about you," I sighed and Danny nodded, still not sure what to say. He slowly gathered up his clothes, and went into my bathroom to change. I took the opportunity to change too, pulling some fresh undergarments out of my drawer. I wondered where the ones I had been wearing last night had gone, but now was not the time to worry about that. I pulled on some comfortable, loose-fitting shorts and a t-shirt, and waited for Danny to come out.

This was weird, more than what happened last night, but also this awkward conversation between us. I didn't like it. We had been friends for years, and I was not about to let one night, one mistake, screw up our friendship.

He came out a few seconds later.

"Well…I guess I should go," he said.

"Wait," I said, "Let's just pretend that this never happened. Let's not let thus ruin our friendship, okay?" I asked hopefully. Danny smiled like a weight had been lifted off of his chest.

"Okay," he agreed, "See you later?"

"Yeah we can meet up with Tucker at the Nasty Burger at the usual time," I told him.

"Alright, bye," he said.

"Bye," I called as he phased through the wall and out of my room.

Danny POV-

I was trying to act calm, but on the inside, I was freaking out.

I had slept with Sam?! And I didn't even remember it?!

But the better question was why. What had made us…sleep together?

Neither of us could remember anything after my ghost sense had gone off, so a ghost would be the obvious explanation, but why? What satisfaction could they possibly get out of…you know what, never mind, I do _not _want to know that. But what I did want to know was how. I've never successfully been overshadowed; in fact, the only time I had ever been under someone else's control was when Freakshow had his hold on my mind. But, as far as I knew, he was still in prison and I had destroyed the staff that he had used to control me in our last confrontation. Also…the staff had given him control of my ghost half…and what had happened last night…something tells me there was more…human impulses involved.

And, Sam couldn't remember either. So whoever or whatever we're dealing with…it has the ability to affect both ghosts _and _humans.

I was relieved when Sam told me that we should just pretend it never happened so that we wouldn't ruin our friendship because I do like spending time with Sam, and I would hate for that to end because we had, whether under our own will or not, made a mistake.

But at the same time…I couldn't help but _want _to remember.

I quickly pushed this thought to the back of my mind. I couldn't think this way, I wouldn't. Not if it meant risking my friendship with Sam.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ugh, this always happens. I write the first chapter and then I'm left alone and the inspiration strikes again and, as a result, I end up losing sleep by writing and neglecting my other stories. But, here it is anyway. Enjoy. **

Chapter 2:

Four weeks later.

Danny POV-

"Sam, are you okay, in there?" I asked her. In the middle of class, Sam had run out of the classroom out of nowhere. I asked Mr. Durrell if I could go check on her, and now, here I am, standing outside of the women's restroom, having a one-sided conversation with the bathroom door, in the middle of an empty hallway.

"Sam—"I tried to call again, but I was cut off when I was abruptly pulled into the restroom. Sam locked the door behind us and went back over to the bathroom stall, where she sat on her knees holding her hair, like she was prepared to puke again.

"Sam?" I asked tentatively, "Are you okay? Do you want me to go get the nurse?"

She shook her head and I noticed the sweat on her face. She was pale, or at least paler than usual, and she looked like she was, well, sick. I leaned awkwardly against the sink, not sure what to do.

Finally, she looked up from the toilet to me.

"I think it's over, for now," she said with a sigh of relief, letting go of her hair.

"Are you sick?" I asked. It seemed like a pretty obvious question, all she would have had to do was nod, man, I wish she had nodded. But, instead, she shook her head, and pointed to the toilet bowl.

I wrinkled my nose, going to see whatever she wanted me to look at. Instead of the various colors of normal puke, the inside of the toilet was stained neon green.

'_Ectoplasm,' _I realized with a start, '_But why would Sam be puking ectoplasm?' _

"I've been doing this since yesterday," she told me, then she looked up at me, her solemn amethyst eyes trying to make me understand what she's thinking.

"Why?" I asked her, but I already knew that I was not going to like the answer.

"Danny," she sighed, "I think I'm pregnant."

…

I was stunned, to say the least. I'm pretty sure that one of my legs must have given out because I stumbled, barely catching myself, as I pressed my hand to the side of the stall.

"And I'm…?" I couldn't finish that question, I don't know why. Maybe I thought that if I were to finish it, that it would become true. But that didn't matter, it was true, we both knew it was true. Sam knew how I would have finished that question, and she responded with a nod.

It was a lot to take in. I slid down the side of the stall until I hit the floor.

"But…it was only one time…" I whispered.

"That's all it takes," she uttered back, her voice barely above a breath. She was scared, I could hear it, she didn't know what to do, neither did I. We're juniors in high school; neither of us knew how to raise a child.

"What are we going to do?" she almost sounded on the verge of tears, I have never seen Sam cry, ever, she just doesn't, and I wasn't about to see her cry today, we needed a plan, and she needs to know that I am here for her.

I put my arm around her, pulling her close to me, and she rested her head on my shoulder. It was such a comfortable position, one that we were used to. But usually that was only when we would be watching a movie and fall asleep, or when we would listen to music in the park. Neither of us had ever seen it as anything else. But now it was different.

"Listen," I told her, "We are going to get through this and I will be right there with you, okay? Now, come on," I told her, standing up.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I'm going to tell the nurse that you're sick, and we're going to go back to your house. Your parents won't be home, right?" I questioned.

She shook her head.

"Great. Then we'll talk about our next move, okay?" I looked at her.

She nodded. And with that, I helped her to her feet, flushed the toilet, which was still stained a lighter shade of neon green even after everything had gone down the drain (oops), and escorted her out of the bathroom and down the hall to the clinic.

After I explained to the nurse that I needed to take her home, we left. I know it would have been faster and easier for me to fly her home, but, it probably would have made her that much sicker.

So we walked, my arm around her shoulder for support the whole way, finally we reached her house.

I didn't want her housekeepers to know that we were home, so I had to fly her up into her room. I gently set her down on the carpet, making sure that she wasn't going to puke from the sudden motion.

"You okay?" I asked. She nodded, sitting on the bed. I went into her bathroom, grabbing a wet washcloth and the plastic trashcan. I put the washcloth on her forehead and the trashcan next to her bed.

"I'll be right back," I told her and she nodded, her eyes closed.

I flew out of the house and to the convenient store on the corner. I picked up all of Sam's favorite foods: Veggie Straws, fruit smoothies, chocolate milk, Raisinettes, sour cream and onion Pringles, and Flaming Hot Cheetos. Lastly, I went into the pregnancy test aisle. I gulped. There are so many different kinds.

In the movies they always grab like ten, so I got one of each, and threw them into the basket.

You should have seen the face of the guy at the checkout counter. But, I suppose it'd not every day that Danny Phantom comes in and buys food and ten pregnancy tests. He looked like he wanted to question me about it, but he didn't have the courage.

Well, so much for any semblance of a reputation.

"Thanks," I said when he finished ringing me up, and took the bag of food and pregnancy tests and flew back to Sam's house.

"How are you doing?" I asked. Phasing in and transforming back.

"Fine, Danny. You only left three minutes ago," she responded without opening her eyes. I breathed a slight sigh of relief. She was starting to come back to her snarky self, which meant that she must be feeling better, "What'd you get?" she asked, sitting up slowly.

I turned the plastic bag upside down and dumped its contents onto her bed.

She stared at the stuff for about thirty seconds, before nodding slowly, then she paused and a strange look passed over her face.

"Wait a minute, you went into the store and bought ten pregnancy tests?" she asked with an edge of accusation, "Do you know how fast news travels in this town? In ten minutes your parents and my parents will be barging through that door and—"

"Sam, it's okay. No one is going to be barging down any door, trust me," I told her.

"You didn't," she questioned, "You didn't _steal _these did you?!"

"No! Of course not! But Danny _Fenton _didn't buy ten pregnancy tests," I informed her.

Suddenly she burst out laughing.

"Well, I'm sure _that w_as a sight. That will be over town in about five minutes. Which means Tucker will be calling you in ten minutes, right? Are you prepared to handle that?" she wondered.

"Well, prepared or not, he would have had to find out eventually. Do you think that you're up to taking these tests right now?" Sam nodded and I helped her off of her bed and into the bathroom.

"Wait outside," she ordered, taking the ten tests in her arms.

So I waited outside. I heard the toilet flush and she opened up the bathroom door.

"So…" I question.

"Now we wait," she told me and I followed her into the bathroom where ten pregnancy tests were lined up neatly next to the sink. That must have been the longest ten minutes of my life.

But when the time was up ten out of the ten were positive.

"So, it's official now, I guess," I said rubbing the back of my neck anxiously.

"Yeah…now come on, we have to hide these before my parents get home," she said, stuffing all the tests back into the boxes they came in.

"I've got this," I said, firing an ecto-blast at each box, all of which, quickly disintegrated, leaving the box and the contents inside as a pile of slightly green ash.

I scooped the ash up and tossed it in the trashcan before helping Sam back into her bed.

"Do you think you can keep some food down?" I asked her.

"That depends, what do you have?" she asked.

I handed her the odd assortment of food. She chuckled a little, opening up the box of Raisinettes, and dumping some into her hand.

Suddenly my cellphone buzzed seven times in a row.

"Here we go," I rolled my eyes, knowing that it was Tucker.

'DUDE! I HEARD THAT YOU WERE BUYING PREGNANCY TESTS! WTF!'

'DUDE! PAULINA'S SAYING THAT SHE'S PREGNANT! YOU DID NOT BANG PAULINA DID YOU?'

'WHY AREN'T YOU AT SCHOOL!'

'DUDE, TEXT ME BACK!'

'DUDE WHO DID YOU KNOCK UP!'

'IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE!'

'EVERYONE IS SAYING THAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY A WOMAN AND THE TESTS ARE FOR YOU. IF YOU DON'T TEXT ME BACK, I'M TELLING EVERYONE THAT IT'S TRUE!'

'Sam is sick, had to take her home. And NO, I did not knock up Paulina. Oh and if you tell anyone that, I am going to show them the pictures from when you took ballet,' I texted back.

'I WAS FIVE AND MY MOM MADE ME! So were you actually buying pregnancy tests?!'

'Yes, okay,' I gritted my teeth, knowing the response that I would get.

'WHAT? WHY? WHO? WHERE? WHEN?'

'Long story, tell you after school, come over to Sam's,' I replied. You'd think that he would be able to put the pieces together, but, for a tech genius, Tucker can be kind of stupid when it comes to social clues.

'K,' he texted back, effectively ending the conversation.

Sam looked at me.

"And now, we wait."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Danny POV-

"So, we've got some time before Tucker shows up. Maybe we should talk about what we're going to do…you know, now that we know," I suggested.

"I'm not having an abortion. Ever. I don't like when people kill animals for meat, but at least that serves a purpose, abortion kills an innocent baby and I don't want to be the one responsible for that," Sam raised her voice.

"I know, we won't. It's okay," I assured her, and her shoulders relaxed. To be honest, I wasn't in favor of an abortion either, I mean, I didn't want to kill the baby, but also, I deal with ghosts all day. I would hate for one of those ghosts to be the baby we aborted.

"My parents are going to disown me," Sam muttered sadly, folding her leg up beside her, looking down at her now-empty box of Raisinettes and picking up the bag of Veggie Straws.

"No, they won't," I tried to convince her, but she merely shook her head.

"No Danny, they will," she said with utter certainly and turned her violet gaze on me.

"Then you can come stay with me," I told her, "My parents love you, and my mom has always wanted grandkids so…I don't think that they'll disown me," I told her, but the more I thought about it, the less that I was certain myself. I mean, I have feared for years that they would disown me or kill me if they knew who I really am…would they have the same reaction to me getting Sam pregnant.

"But what if they do?" she asked.

"Then…then we'll live in a hotel. I'm not going to let you do this on your own," I told her.

She smiled at me.

"I'm just wondering what they're reaction is going to be when they find out that Danny Phantom got someone pregnant. I can see it now 'We cannot allow this vigilante to violate the women of this town. And any half-ghost monstrosities he has must be disposed of. We don't know anything about them and they could easily be a danger to this town even if they are children,'" I imitated my mom and Sam laughed.

"Wow, you nailed her voice," she laughed, "But come on Danny, your mom isn't heartless, she wouldn't destroy babies just because they're half ghost."

"No. Maybe not. But she might have them exiled to the ghost zone," I argued. Sam said nothing, which meant that she knew it was a strong possibility.

"Are you considering adoption?" I wondered. Sam paused.

"I don't know…maybe, but what if our baby gets your powers, which something tells me it does, just judging by the amount of ectoplasm still in the school toilet. I don't think anyone else would be able to handle that. Plus…I don't really want to give up my baby," Sam told me.

I hadn't even considered that the baby might have inherited ghost powers, but now it definitely made sense, which meant that being parents would be even harder than we thought. And, since the baby will not be able to control its powers, it might expose my secret.

"Alright, no abortion, no adoption, so that means we're going to keep it, and we'll stay at my house…if my parents don't disown me. And then my parents will be able to watch the baby, so we can still go to school…" I mused out loud.

"Wow, you're put a lot of thought into this," Sam noticed, sounding pleasantly surprised.

"Hmm…I guess I have," I said thoughtfully.

"What about names?" Sam asked.

"Names?" I repeated.

"Yeah, what would you name it?" she reiterated.

"Umm…I don't know…do you have anything you would want to name it?" I asked her. She nodded and pulled a notebook out of the drawer in her nightstand; she flipped to a page, ripped out a sheet of paper and then handed it to me.

It was a list of each name she liked best for each letter of the alphabet. One list for boys and one for girls.

Girls:  
A. Addison  
B. Bridget  
C. Cadence  
D. Dakota  
E. Elizabeth  
F. Faith  
G. Gwen  
H. Harley  
I. Iris  
J. Jeanette  
K. Koda  
L. Luna  
M. Maya  
N. Natalie  
O. Olivia  
P. Piper  
Q. Quinn  
R. Riley  
S. Serena  
T. Terra  
U. n/a  
V. Victoria  
W. Wren  
X. n/a  
Y. n/a  
Z. Zoey

Boys:

A. Andy  
B. Bryce  
C. Carter  
D. Derek  
E. Eli  
F. Fredrick  
G. Grayson  
H. Hunter  
I. Isaac  
J. Jackson  
K. Kyle  
L. Liam  
M. Mason  
N. Noah  
O. Oliver  
P. Pierce  
Q. Quinton  
R. Russell  
S. Sawyer  
T. Trevor  
U. n/a  
V. Vance  
W. William  
X. Xavier  
Y. n/a  
Z. Zane

"Wow, this is a thorough list," I swallowed.

"Why don't you think about it, we've got nine months," she chuckled.

I folded up the paper and stuck it in my back pocket.

"It's 4:21, that means Tucker should be here—" Sam started.

_Ding dong._

"Right now," she finished. I heard the thud of his sneakers against the stairs as he came up to Sam's room.

He barged in, hitting the door against the wall in the process.

"Hey, careful with my house!" Sam scolded.

"Sorry, it's just all I've been hearing for an hour is 'Phantom bought pregnancy tests,' I just want to know what's going on. Sam do you know about this?!" he rambled.

"You could definitely say that," Sam muttered low enough so that I could hear it, and I chuckled in response, not that Tucker noticed, he was still spouting off questions.

"So, give me the who, what, when, where, why!" he ordered.

"Um…at the party a few weeks ago," I said, wanting to answer only a few questions at a time.

"That doesn't answer, who, what or why," Tucker pointed out, crossing his arms.

I looked at Sam. She didn't want to tell him any more than I did. We would never hear the end of it.

"Sam," I said finally.

"Sam what?" Tucker seemed confused.

"Ugh, no. Who: Sam, what: we did it, why: we don't know," I announced.

"Way to be blunt, Danny," Sam scoffed.

"Sorry," I muttered to her, blushing.

"So wait you guys…"

"Yes!" we exclaimed in unison.

"What do you mean you don't know?" he asked.

"Neither of us can remember anything," I told him, a little quieter.

He was quiet for a few minutes, and then he looked at Sam.

"So are you…you know…" he wondered.

She nodded solemnly.

"Wow, how is that going to work for you two?" he questioned.

Sam and I shared a look, then we answered at the same time, "We don't know."

**Hope you enjoyed chapter 3.**

**You guys can vote on the baby's name. Just comment: the gender, and a first and middle name for the baby. I will consider all of your submissions, and if there is an overwhelming majority of one name, then I will choose that one.**

**Thanks for reading. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

That night, I continued to think about what Tucker had asked: what did this mean for Sam and me?

The next morning, Sam was still sick. And, despite my protests, she refused to stay home and rest, claiming that she wouldn't be able stay home for the next few weeks, which is how long the morning sickness could last. But I knew the real reason: she didn't want her parents to get suspicious.

I get it.

I get why she didn't want to tell them, she was afraid of what they would do. I didn't want to tell my parents either, but at least I could put it off a little longer. Her parents, even if they're never around, might notice if she skipped two weeks of school and had neon green strains all over her bathroom.

We decided not to tell anyone until the end of the first trimester, which, according to Sam, is the first 12 weeks, especially since she probably wouldn't be showing too much before that and it gave me time to figure out the best way to tell my parents.

I'm pretty sure there I no easy way to tell your parents that you knocked up your best friend. I almost considered asking Jazz for advice, almost. But I quickly reconsidered. She would freak out, not to mention there is no way that she would not be able to tell anyone. I'm actually amazed that she has kept the Phantom secret for so long, and even then, with my life potentially on the line, she has still almost slipped up a few times.

I can see it now. I would tell her, she would freak out and promise not to tell. Then, at a particularly quiet moment at dinner she would blurt out "Danny got Sam pregnant!"

And then I'd probably spend the night in the Fenton Stockades.

In fact, Jazz probably already knows something. She might be a nerd, and sort of a social introvert, but she's not immune to gossip, especially gossip involving me. The only question is, why hasn't she said anything yet?

Well, whatever her reasons may be, I was glad that she hadn't mentioned it. One more awkward conversation that I can prolong.

I waited by the cafeteria door for Sam to come to lunch, this was the first class I had with her all morning, and I really wanted to talk to her. I saw her approach; her head was down, like she was in deep thought.

I put my hand on her arm. She looked up at me and I pulled her aside, out of the traffic flow of the student body into the cafeteria.

"What, Danny?" she asked, a little irritated at my interruption of her thoughts.

"I've been thinking a lot about what Tucker said, you know, about how this would affect us..." I said.

"I thought we said we wouldn't let it affect our friendship," she stated.

"Well, yeah, but that was before...there's a little more at stake now, don't you think?" I pressed.

She nodded.

"So what are you saying? Do you think we should be a couple?" she clarified.

"...I think...I think it might be worth a shot. If nothing else if we're dating it will be less of a shock to everyone when they find out that I got you pregnant," I explained. She seemed to consider this.

"Okay," she agreed, "We can try that." I grinned at her, relieved.

"Oh and Danny?" she added, "We have an OB-GYN appointment after school."

"An OBG-what?" I asked. Sam rolled her eyes.

"The pregnancy doctor," she simplified.

"Oh…okay, where is it?" I inquired.

"It's just outside of town, in Fairview," she told me.

"Sam, that's like half an hour away," I informed her.

"I know, but it's far enough away that not everyone will know about it tomorrow," she explained.

"Okay," I recognized her logic, "But how are we going to get there, you're still too sick to fly and we don't have a ride and—" I stopped when I noticed the look she was giving me. It only took about five seconds for me to get her implied message.

"Oh no! No!" I held up my hands in protest.

"Oh come on Danny, she's going to find out eventually. So either Jazz finds out today, or the rest of Amity Park finds out tomorrow, your choice," she crossed her arms. I huffed. Obviously, she was right. Jazz has a car, and considering there is a very limited taxi service in Amity Park and there are no busses that run between here and Fairview, that makes her our only option.

"Ugh, fine," I surrendered, "What time is the appointment?"

"Five, we're the last appointment of the night so we have to be there on time, so you better go talk to Jazz now so we can leave right after school," she told me.

I nodded, sighing. It was fourth period, so that means that Jazz has study hall, which she would be spending alone in the courtyard, at least that's a plus.

"Okay, catch up with you later," I told Sam, turning and going out the front doors into the courtyard.

Jazz was pretty easy to spot. She wasn't seated at the crowded picnic tables in the direct sunlight; instead, she was on the far end of the courtyard reading her psychology book under a tree.

'_Well,' _I took a deep breath, '_Here goes nothing.' _She was so engrossed in her book, she didn't even notice when I was standing right in front of her until I cleared my throat. She immediately closed the book and looked up at me.

"Oh, hey Danny," she greeted me, "What's up?"

"Umm…"I gulped, "Can I talk to you?"

"Of course. Actually, I wanted to talk to you too. I heard an interesting bit of gossip today…" she trailed off, arching her eyebrow at me.

"Actually," I rubbed the back of my neck, "That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"So you _were_ buying pregnancy tests?! Danny! What did you do?! Please tell me it wasn't that Paulina girl, you know she's telling everyone that she's pregnant!" Jazz exclaimed as loudly as she could without attracting the attention of everyone else at school.

"Yes," I whispered, "But not for Paulina, okay?" At this, Jazz calmed down a little, but she still scrutinized me with sharp eyes.

"Who?" she asked.

I sighed, "Sam."

Jazz's eyes widened, "Just to clarify, are you…I mean, did you…er…um…you know."

I nodded, "It was after the party a few weeks ago, but neither of us can remember anything. All we know is, we left the party, my ghost sense went off, and the next morning we were in Sam's bed."

"Okaay, too much information," she exclaimed, cringing in disgust. "So you think a ghost…"

"We don't know. I've never heard of such a thing, I've never been overshadowed, and I don't know _why _a ghost would even do that. Oh, and if you have some kind of psycho-analysis about it, I'd rather not know," I informed her. Jazz, who looked like she was about to say something, closed her mouth and stayed that way for ten seconds.

"So," she lowered her voice, "Is Sam pregnant?"

"Yeah," I admitted. Jazz sucked in a sharp breath, like she wasn't sure what to say, "And that's kind of where you come in."

"Oh?" she wondered.

"Yeah, Sam got an appointment at the OY-BGN after school and we need you to drive us."

Jazz chuckled shaking her head, "OB-GYN, Danny. Wow, you need all the help you can get. Okay, I'll tell mom that I'm working on a project, and you tell her that you're doing something with Tucker and Sam."

"Okay, thanks Jazz," I hugged her.

"No problem little brother. But when are you planning on telling everyone? You can't hide it forever," she said.

"Sam said after the first trimester," I replied. Jazz nodded.

"Well, why don't you go back to her, I'll meet you two in the parking lot after school," she responded.

"Okay, thanks again, Jazz," I said.

She waved off my gratitude, once again, picking up her book and going back to where she had left off.

…

After school, Sam and I were in the parking lot, waiting for Jazz. She came out a minute later, her arms loaded with books and her messenger bag whacking her thigh.

"Sorry, I'm here. Let's go," she clicked the unlock button on her car keys and Sam and I got in.

The three of us were quiet on the way to the doctor (partially because Jazz's music selection sucks), and partially because none of us knew what to say. I could tell this silence was really bothering Jazz. I mean what is she supposed to say? Congratulations? I'm sorry?

I'm just glad she didn't launch into the "a baby is a big responsibility spiel."

We arrived at the doctor with fifteen minutes to spare, just enough time for Sam to fill out the paperwork and have the bill sent to her personal account instead of her parents.

A few minutes later, they called Sam and me into the back while Jazz sat in the waiting room. Sam went into the bathroom, coming out in a blue paper gown, and sitting herself in the chair.

"So," said the doctor entering the room. She was a short woman with a short blonde haircut and a friendly smile; I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't a man, "What are we here for today?"

"Um…we're pretty sure I'm pregnant, and we just wanted to know for sure," Sam said uncertainly.

The woman nodded, and sat down on the stool next to the chair.

"Are you the father?" she asked me.

"Yes," I replied and the woman smiled a little, putting some clear jelly-stuff on a wand.

"Okay this is going to be cold, alright?" she told Sam, who nodded in response.

"Do you know how far along you are?" the doctor questioned.

"Four weeks," Sam replied, cringing at the cold.

"Well, it might take a few seconds since you're not very far along…oh, look, there's a heartbeat," she pointed to the grainy black and white image on the screen where a little dot flickered inside of a black mass.

I stared at the little orb. It was unbelievable, that that little dot would turn into a baby.

"Oh, hold on wait a second," the doctor said, adjusting the wand a little, "…Oh, you see that right there?"

"Is that another heartbeat?" I questioned.

"Yep. It looks like you two are going to have twins," the doctor smiled. I stumbled a little, gripping the support rail on the bed to steady myself. I looked at Sam. All the color had drained from her face, as she stared at the monitor, her mouth agape.

"I want you to start taking prenatal vitamins," and the doctor scribbled something on her pad, "And if you want to go to a support group. I have the number for a teen mom class," she tore off a little piece of paper and handed it to Sam, who took it numbly.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you to get changed," the doctor gave us one last smile and exited the room.

We sat in stunned silence for a minute.

"Um…wow, twins," Sam breathed and all I could do was nod. And I thought one super-powered baby would be enough, now we are going to have two. I dazedly helped Sam out of the chair, and she went into the bathroom to change.

I sat down, putting my elbows on my knees, and my head in my hands.

We're not even seventeen yet. I never expected having to grow up this quickly. Now, Sam would probably start showing even more quickly, which would mean that either she would have to wear a lot of sweatshirts, or, everyone is going to know even sooner than we wanted them to.

I stood up when Sam entered the room.

"Ready to go?" I asked her, and she nodded, as the two of us walked back into the waiting room.

"So, how did it go? Is everything alright?" Jazz asked as we walked into where she was sitting.

"Yeah, everything is fine and healthy," I told her, "But we're having twins."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Danny POV-

"Twins?!" Tucker exclaimed, "Dude, you have _got _to be kidding me!"

"Um…no," I stated.

"Wow! You guys are going to have your hands full," he asked.

"How about you babysit for us," I smirked. Sam elbowed me in the side, giving me a look.

"I don't want their first words to be PDA and meat," she noted, playfully.

"Haha, don't forget 'Tucker Foley, that's TF, as in too fine,'" I joked, making Sam and I crack up. Tucker shrugged, not denying it, as he flopped on my bed.

"How much sooner are you going to show?" Tucker asked.

"Most sources say between five and six weeks with twins, compared to the twelve weeks of a regular pregnancy. I'm already four weeks so I should start showing soon," she sighed.

I put my hand on her arm and gave her an encouraging smile. She smiled back at me, but I could tell her mind was somewhere else.

I was having a hard time focusing too. Sure I've seen the movies, but it's different when it's actually happening to you. It's funny; I have the responsibility of protecting everyone in town from ghosts practically 24/7, but never before had I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders like it is now.

If I'm feeling like this, I can't imagine how Sam is feeling right now. She not only has to face the responsibility, but she has to face the eviction by her parents, a lot sooner now, and, she has to live with the physical weight and stress of pregnancy for eight more months.

I looked over at her. She was staring at her hands which were neatly folded in her lap, with a sort of tired, dazed expression.

In a way, I wish that this had never happened, and I feel such guilt over the fact that it did, and I was partially the cause. Of course, I know that there's nothing that we can do about it now, but that doesn't stop me from wishing we could change things.

"Dinner!" I heard my mom call from downstairs, and the three of us stood up, leaving my room and going down into the dining room.

We sat at the table. This was a usual occurrence for us considering how Sam and Tucker practically live at my house sometimes.

My mom made lasagna, with a small tray of vegetarian lasagna for Sam. I wasn't very hungry, and judging by the way Sam was pushing around the food on her plate, taking only a few small bites, I could tell that she wasn't either.

"So, how was school?" my mom asked to no one in particular.

"Fine," the three of us said in unison, although because Tucker's mouth was full of lasagna it came out like "Finumph." My mom pursed her lips, obviously not buying it, then she turned her suspicious glare on me and Sam.

"Is everything all right with you two? You seem awfully quiet tonight," she noticed.

I looked up to meet my mom's concerned gaze.

"Nothing's wrong mom…there's just a lot going on just, that's all," I lied. My mom still didn't believe it, I could tell by the look on her face, but she didn't press me for any more details.

"Well…you'll never believe what I heard that the pharmacy today!" my mom exclaimed, changing the subject.

"What?" Jazz supplied, trying to continue the conversation when the rest of us had said nothing. I took a sip of my drink.

"I heard that Danny Phantom was in there buying pregnancy tests of all things! How unbelievable! I swear, if he has gone around violating the women of this town…" she shook her head, and I spewed Dr. Pepper on the table, while Sam choked on the vegetarian lasagna she had in her mouth.

"You see?" she gestured to us, "That was my same reaction. This ghost has no boundaries. He thinks he can just get away with acting human and fooling all of the rest of town."

"What if he did get someone pregnant and they have half-ghost babies?" Jazz questioned and Sam and I cast her a pointed glare, while Tucker began quietly giggling. Sam kicked him under the table and I smirked when he winced at the pain.

"Well, assuming that is actually possible, we will have to take extra precautions with these children. Half of their genetic makeup would be that of an evil ghost, so we have no idea what they are capable of. I suppose the first thing we would have to do is get the mother to either completely cut the connection the baby would have with its father. Or, they might have to leave town, possibly into the ghost zone," my mom suggested.

I had guessed it. This meant that I would have to have a constant eye on my twins, just to make sure that their powers are never going off around my parents. I glanced at Sam who was giving me the same knowing, concerned look.

"Mom, did you ever think that maybe Phantom isn't a danger to the town? He is a teenager, maybe he's just misunderstood," Jazz suggested.

As was to be expected, my mom scoffed.

"Honey, it's nice of you to always see the good in people, but Phantom isn't a person, he's a ghost. They don't abide by the same moral code that governs humans. They have no humanity at all," she told her.

"But what if you're wrong?" Jazz protested, "You've said yourself that Phantom is a different kind of ghost, one that you've never seen before, so how can put the same stereotypes on him that you put on other ghosts? And plus, it's normal for teenage boys to act out, some boys at our school just got in trouble for spray painting buildings downtown. I think Phantom is governed by the same basic driving need for attention; he just has a different way of showing it. Also, he can't be all bad; he saves the town all the time."

"But think of all the more times these actions have also put the town _in _danger. Let's face it, whatever the case may be, we do not know enough about him to know that he, or any offspring he manages to create, are not a threat. And because he has shown the strength of his abilities and his tendency to _be _a threat, we have no choice but to classify him as such," my mom had effectively backed Jazz into a corner. Jazz couldn't say anything else without getting too close to my secret for comfort, so instead she just sat back in her chair, frustrated, her lips in a tight line.

"Why are you suddenly so defensive over Phantom all of a sudden?" my mom asked, the suspicious edge creeping back into her voice.

"I'm not," Jazz answered, of course, defensively, which only deepened my mom's suspicions.

"You haven't been hanging out with that ghost, have you?" my mom accused.

"No!" Jazz lied, but, unfortunately, neither Jazz nor I inherited the gene to be able to lie convincingly.

"Jasmine Fenton! Have you been fraternizing with that ghost boy!?" my mom demanded.

"Did he touch you?! I will rip that ghost apart molecule by molecule!" my dad threatened, pulling a gun that he had been tinkering with out from under the table. It lit up and vibrated loudly as he turned it on.

"Jazz," my mom said, lowering her voice to a more serious, and dangerously threatening tone, "Did Phantom get you pregnant?"

"Eww, no mom!" Jazz wrinkled her nose, "I've talked with him before that's all, I promise."

Everyone else at the table seemed to be frozen. I heard my dad power down the gun with disappointment.

"Hmm…" my mom considered the truth of Jazz's response, "I believe you sweetie, but I think that we should test it out just in case." She pulled a small rectangular shaped device out of the pocket on her jumpsuit.

"Whoa! Whoa! What is that?" Jazz cringed away from the device.

"Don't worry honey, it won't hurt you, it just measures the amount of ectoplasmic energy in your body," my mom explained, pointing the device at Jazz and pressing a button.

"Hmm…3.2," my mom studied the results, "Good, that's not a significant reading, probably just a trace amount. Only a little higher than usual, but I'm sure it's only from living in this house and coming into contact with our inventions."

I heard Jazz breathe a sigh of relief. Thankfully, my mom hadn't noticed, but I could see that the gears in her head were still turning. She looked at Sam.

'_Oh shit!' _I thought, knowing what was going to happen and the reading my mom would get as she slowly moved the device in Sam's direction.

I had to do something, or my mom would know that Sam was pregnant with "Phantom's baby" and, just might do something rash, like strap her to an operating table and remove the twins to experiment on them.

Before my mom could press the button, I knocked my glass of Dr. Pepper onto the floor where it spilled and shattered with a loud crash.

"Danny!" she exclaimed, rushing over to clean up the soda and broken glass.

"Sorry, I don't know what happened!" I told her, giving Sam a smile while my mom was distracted.

Sam smiled back with gratitude.

"Jack would you get the Fenton Shop-Vac?! Danny, don't get up, there is broken glass everywhere!"

She had successfully forgotten her previous task.

Crisis averted.

For now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Inspiration Juice**

**Ingredients:****  
Three cups of obsession, three cups of a good idea, two cups of an accumulation of a loss of sleep (over 5 or more days), and a dash of insanity. Mix well and let sit for two more days.  
****Duration: ****  
Between three and seven days.  
****Side Effects:****  
May result in a continued loss of sleep and mental wellness. Often includes a lack of ability to sit still for more than a minute at a time. Could result in a lack of motivation for anything other than furthering the original idea. Has a history of temporarily increasing antisocial tendencies in people over ten years of age, although in some cases, this has been found to be permanent.  
****Warning: ****  
Highly concentrated mixture that allows focus on only one story/work at a time. An over exposure to Inspiration Juice can lead to permanent mental and social issues, that need to be treated with induced socialization and writer's block. Seek immediate medical attention if brain spontaneously combusts. Do not mix with anti-depressants. Do not take while driving. Keep out of reach of children.**

Haha, I must have had a little too much of the inspiration juice for this particular story because I'm still writing. So, here is another chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 6:

After dinner, Tucker left, and Sam and I went onto the roof of the Ops Center to watch as the sun descended behind the low, unimpressive, Amity Park skyline.

"You were right," she muttered quietly. She didn't specify, but I knew that she was talking about my mom. This was one of the few times I wished that I hadn't been right, it would be hard enough raising these two babies, but without the support of my parents if they ever found out…that was hard to think about. "What now?" Sam continued her voice concerned, "You saw how close she came to busting us…well, me, specifically, tonight. What if next time there isn't a Dr. Pepper for you to knock over?"

"Hey," I said quietly, putting her much smaller hands in my own, "I'm not going to let that happen. And, if for some reason they do find out, we can leave, and I will be right beside you."

"Danny," she sighed, "I wouldn't ask you to do that. _You _wouldn't have to leave, they wouldn't necessarily know about you."

"I know you wouldn't ask me. But I would do it. If it means exposing my secret, so be it. You being pregnant is at least partially my fault, and those twins are half mine, so I'm not going to let you take on the full responsibility. So, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. We're in this together," I affirmed, giving her a smile.

Sam giggled, surprising me, then she looked at me. I'm not sure I will ever be able to describe the look on her face. It was everything from awe, to surprise, to guilt, to gratitude, to happiness, to fear, to joy, to anxiety, to sadness all rolled into one. It was so many emotions that I could not name a specific arrangement for her expression. But when I looked again, I noticed that there was something else too…something that I recognized but was not used to seeing directed at me the way I was seeing it now.

Love.

I leaned closer to her, pushing a dark strand of hair behind her ear. Her hair had gotten do much longer—running straight down to the center of her back now— than it was when I we were fourteen. Now, those two years seemed like an eternity ago. I had just been beginning to figure out my ghost powers. Even with all that craziness—dodging my parent's inventions, dodging fruitloops, accidentally phasing through walls and floors—now things were in a more crucial sense of chaos, a waiting chaos, like the calm before a storm.

I looked into Sam's deep purple eyes, and, for a moment, none of that seemed to matter, like we were the only two people on Earth and the storm was gone.

She smiled, moving closer and pressing her soft lips gently against mine. I reacted, kissing her back, passionately. We stayed like that, in our own little world, lost in the feeling of each other's lips on our own, for what only felt like a few minutes. But when we finally separated, only the last few rays of sunlight danced above the horizon as the stars slowly emerged into the dark blue sky.

We were quiet. It was not an awkward quiet, but a thoughtful quiet. My lips still tingled where hers had been, and I resisted the urge to put my finger to my lips, just to make sure they were still there.

What everyone else around us had been guessing for years had finally happened. Not a fake-out-make-out, not a dream. And this time, I could actually remember it.

I picked up her hand that was resting on the broken asphalt shingles, and held it in my own, clasping our fingers together.

She seemed a little surprised, and blushed, but she made no attempt to pull away.

"For what it's worth," Sam sighed eventually, "I think you're going to be a great dad, Danny."

I thought about this, unable to stop the grin from spreading over my face.

That actually had given me a lot of comfort, knowing that Sam, at least, has faith in my ability to not mess up.

"Really?" I questioned finally. Sam nodded.

"You are one of the most funny, thoughtful, loyal, trustworthy, honest, kind, and protective guys I have ever met," she admitted.

I chuckled quietly.

"Well, for what it's worth," I replied, "You're going to be a great mom too."

Sam scoffed.

"I'm serious. You're smart, talented, independent, you put others before yourself, you're not afraid to do what is right; you stand up for those you care about. You're also strong and determined. You solve problems. You have great morals, and you aren't afraid to express them. I have no doubt that you'll pass on these morals to our kids too," I told her. She seemed a little shocked, but I could tell that everything I had just said had just lifted a giant weight off of her shoulders the same way she had made me feel relieved.

We were quiet again. Now, the sun had completely vanished, leaving the clear dark sky. Up above, the moon was only a shallow crescent, hanging lazily in the sky, ready to disappear back into its usual cycle tomorrow.

"Um…tomorrow's Saturday right?" I asked. Sam made a noise of agreement and looked at me with her eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Well…" I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, "I was thinking maybe we could go to the mall…the one in Fairview and maybe order some stuff. Plus with twins you're probably going to need new clothes soon…that's not me saying you're fat! I just…I don't know I think it would be a good idea and—" I stopped when Sam started laughing.

"You see! This is why you're going to be a great dad. No other guy, especially no other guy our age, would be concerned about this," she laughed again. I blushed, a little embarrassed. She noticed, squeezing my hand a little and making me look at her, "I thought it was sweet."

She leaned in, kissing me again, but this time it was only a light peck.

She looked up at the darkened sky.

"I should probably get home," she sighed in disappointment.

"Okay, come on. I'll walk you," I told her standing up and extending my hand, helping her to her feet.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Sam POV-

That night, I went home, and being as exhausted as I am, I went to bed. I'm not going to say I slept well, but I slept.

The next morning, I woke up, feeling as if I had gotten no sleep at all. I glanced at the clock, 9:30. Danny would be here to pick me up at 10:30, so I decided to start moving. Jazz would not need her car today, so, she told him he could use it to transport both of us to the mall. Jazz must sense Danny's growing responsibility too (either that or pity over our situation), because she doesn't let most people even touch her car. For anyone else to drive it was absolutely unheard of.

I rolled out of bed, grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom.

I only had to puke three times before I could get my shower. I've been sick for two days and I really, really wish the morning sickness was over.

After my shower, I put on a loose black t-shirt and picked up my favorite pair of jeans off of the floor. When I tried to put them on, they would not fit. I tried again, sucking in, and still I could only get the button within a centimeter of the hole. I huffed in frustration.

I'm only four weeks! This kind of stuff was not supposed to happen to me yet! I knew at this point it was probably just bloating, but that didn't change the face that I would start to show in one to two weeks. But at the same time, all of the sources I had read stated that we shouldn't have been able to see the babies' heartbeats until ten weeks. This, I guessed, meant that they were progressing about six weeks ahead of schedule, due to Danny's ghost powers, no doubt. So now, not only would I be showing sooner with twins, but I now had twins that grew at a faster rate than other babies, so it would become blatantly obvious that I am pregnant even sooner. The thought itself was terrifying.

I removed the jeans, tossing them onto the floor with the promise that I would pick them up later, and grabbing an older, more worn, and a heck of a lot looser pair from my closet, putting them on. There was a rip in one of the knees, but I didn't really care, I wasn't exactly dressing to impress.

I dried my hair, not bothering to straighten out the natural wave that it has when it's wet, and pulling half of it up into a pony tail. Then I reconsidered, taking my hair down again, and leaving it that way.

I went downstairs. The house was empty, as usual. Before my grandma died, I at least had the chance of having a conversation with her that would bring some warmth to our giant house. But now, there's no one for me to talk to, that is, except for the housekeepers scurrying all over, tidying things to my mom's expectation. The only problem was that most didn't speak very good English.

I noticed that a stack of pancakes had been wrapped in foil and left on the countertop next to a note.

'Samantha,

Your father and I went out. We should be back at around six. Remember you have to come with us to the banquet tonight, so I want you ready to go by the time we get back.

Rosie made pancakes and your father and I were not about to eat all of those extra carbs. Enjoy.

-Your Mother.'

She had always been that formal, even in our conversations. Also, I was pretty sure that we had no housekeepers named Rosie, but my mom refused to learn their names, calling them whatever she deemed fitting at the moment. I sighed, picking up the plate of pancakes, removing the foil, and placing them in the microwave.

I pulled a bottle of syrup out of the pantry, and grabbed the pancakes out of the microwave the second the timer went off, sitting down at one of the ten never-used barstools to eat.

Realizing that I was suddenly starving, I dug in, devouring the whole plate in ten minutes.

I glanced at the clock. It was 10:26, but when I heard a series of different car alarms go off down the street, I knew he would be a little late. So, I popped one of the berry-flavored pre-natal pills in my mouth and sat on the couch and turned on some cartoons. Isn't it funny how I'm pregnant but I'm still watching childish cartoons?

Danny walked in the front door approximately fifteen minutes late.

"Sorry, Skulker," he smiled sheepishly twirling the Fenton Thermos in his hand.

"I figured," I laughed, getting up, "Ready to go?"

"Yep! Jazz's car is out front," he told me and we descended down the front steps of the house.

I slid into the passenger seat, clicking my seat belt into the slot as Danny got in on the other side.

"Hey we need to be back by at least 5:30 because I have to go to this stupid banquet with my parents at six," I told him.

"Okay, we should have plenty of time," he replied, starting up the car. I turned on the radio, tuning it away from Jazz's poor pre-sets to my favorite radio station.

Danny POV-

I chuckled silently to myself, watching Sam loose herself in the music. I recognized the song as Afterlife by Switchfoot. Which, I like too, even though I find it a little ironic considering that I am half-ghost.

She was casually and comfortably dressed with her hair down and her eyes closed, with her head back against the seat.

I smiled and turned back the face the road.

Twenty minutes and only one near –accident (yeah, we will not be telling Jazz about that) later, we arrived at the Fairview Mall.

At this hour of the day, only about ten minutes after eleven o'clock, there were very few crowding the mall. Aside from several single moms toting multiple kids, the mall was relatively empty, and, thankfully, we saw no one from our school.

Because Amity Park had its own mall, not many people from our town actually take the thirty minute drive out here to go shopping, but it wasn't unheard of, so I was made sure that I was on alert for Paulina and her satellites.

I could tell Sam was on alert too, as she glanced around suspiciously, as she pulled me into a children's boutique.

It didn't take long for Sam and me to decide on one furniture set. The set had a modern feel with the sleek, black-painted wood, but at the same time, it was also timeless, with curved lines and intricate carvings in the headboard. We ordered two cribs (which could also turn into beds when they get older), and one changing table/dresser, to be delivered about ten weeks from now. We also ordered a twin stroller and two baby carrying things that could be attached to a base in a car and made into car seats. All of this was ordered via Sam's account, so that neither of our parents would notice.

Of course, we don't know what we're having yet, so we couldn't exactly pick out sheet sets and color schemes for the cribs, but it wasn't difficult to see which ones Sam already preferred.

We started first in the boys section. She pointed out a lot that she liked but one stood out over the rest: it was a dark blue, but covered in light green, light blue and yellow stars in a spirally pattern.

Then we moved onto the girls section, and the one she picked out was lavender with a design of a fake splatter of neon paint colors all over it.

I liked these too. And I thought that both were pretty representative of our personalities.

Assuming that my parents don't disown me, and actually let us stay at our house with the twins, they would, hopefully let us turn the guest room into a nursery.

Painting the guest room would be the issue. Sam already had made it very clear that she wanted the kids to be raised with their own individuality, even if they ended up being identical twins, so, the room would have to be divided in half, one side with a theme for one of the babies and one with a theme for the other, in different colors. This would be a lot easier if we had a boy and a girl because then we could just use the sets we already picked out. But if we get two of the same gender…well, that's a little harder. For girls especially. For one thing, Sam hates pink. We must have found the only bed set in the entire store that wasn't entirely pink…and considering Sam would no buy two of those, it would not be easy for us to find another bed set for the other girl. Boys were a little easier, because they also had a lot of green bed sets that were different enough from the blue one we had already picked out, but, apparently, it couldn't be green and brown because that would clash with the black crib, so that made finding a different boys set a little harder.

I guess I never realized exactly how much stuff there is for babies.

And there is definitely a lot of stuff.

"Who buys fake baby hair anyway?" I questioned holding up the fake hair attached to a band designed to go around the baby's head.

"I have no idea. But isn't that the epitome of shallowness if you can't even tolerate the fact that your baby hasn't grown hair yet?" Sam exclaimed, "Oh, wait, I spoke too soon," she said, holding up a pair of little tiny baby girl shoes. It took me a few seconds to realize that the shoes actually had heels, "Does this scream Paulina or what?"

"Haha, yeah, nothing like a pair of tiny high heels to permanently mess up your kid's feet," I laughed.

Sam grinned, tossing the shoes back into the shoe bin.

Connected to the baby store, through an open archway in the wall, was a maternity clothing store.

"I guess, I should go get some clothes, huh?" she asked, I didn't say anything, really not wanting to (and more importantly, not knowing how exactly to respond to that without it sounding bad). Sam must have taken my silence for an answer because she walked closer to the archway.

"I already can't fit into my jeans," she said, although I got the feeling it was more to herself than to me, "And, Danny," she lowered her voice, "I think that they're growing faster than normal babies."

"Well…I guess that makes sense because if they inherited my ghost powers they probably inherited my extended rate of healing too…which could make them grow faster…how do you know?" he wondered.

"Well, most websites say that we shouldn't have been able to see the heartbeats until ten weeks. I'm only four," she whispered.

"Wow, six weeks ahead of schedule…" I noted.

"Yeah, that's pretty significant," she insisted.

"I'm sure it's just because they're developing all of their organs and stuff right now…it should slow down," I said hopefully. The last thing we needed was for Sam to only be pregnant for like a month and then give birth to completely healthy babies. I'm sure that wouldn't make people suspicious at all.

"I hope you're right," she sighed, then looked into the adjacent store again. "I don't want to buy all maternity clothes right now, but I do need something to wear to that stupid event tonight, and nothing I have is going to fit."

So, she walked forward, looking through the aisles of maternity clothes until she came to a rack for women only in their first few months, before pulling several dresses off and heading into the dressing room.

Eventually, she decided on a dark purple dress. It was relatively conservative, for Sam anyway, coming down to her knee with sleeves that went to her elbows. She purchased the dress, on her parents' account this time. She told me it was two sizes bigger than what she usually wears but, honestly, I didn't notice a difference.

We walked out, and I carried the bag for her. We were only about ten feet away from the store, when I heard a very familiar voice.

Paulina.

Sam heard her too, and the expression on her face was somewhere between annoyance, anger, and embarrassment.

I instantly understood. Sam did not want Paulina to know that she had just been shopping in a maternity store, so, I reacted, instantly making the bag with the obvious logo in my hand, invisible. With my other hand, I grabbed Sam's.

"I see you two losers finally gotten together," Paulina sneered coming up to us, her hands on her hips. Behind her, her "friends" laughed in a fake tone. Then Paulina looked behind us at the maternity store, "I see that you finally found a store that will fit your fat ass, Goth girl," she laughed, thinking she was clever. I felt Sam tense, obviously angry. Hoping to avoid confrontation, I looked behind us, pretending to not know the store she had been referring to.

"Oh," I said with false realization, "No, actually, we were just looking for something for your mom. They just released her from the zoo, right?" I smirked.

Paulina's cheeks got red with anger.

"Oh, Paulina," Sam joined in, "I heard you were pregnant. Is that why you're here?"

"No," Paulina lied, "Actually, I had a miscarriage." She pretended to get choked up, obviously expecting us to pity her, but clearly that was not going to happen.

"So, basically, he never slept with you," Sam started crossing her arms.

"And you couldn't actually get him to sleep with he obviously had higher standards than some shallow, spoiled, stalker," I continued.

"So now, you're just telling people that you lost the baby. That's pathetic," Sam finished with a smirk, because we both obviously knew it was true.

"Listen, Goth girl, I'm more popular than you or your loser friends will ever be, so don't you dare call me pathetic," and in a huff, Paulina turned around and stalked away.

The second she was out of ear shot, Sam and I burst out laughing.

After a few minutes, we finally managed to stop giggling and calm down.

"How did you ever have a crush on that?" Sam asked after we continued walking.

"I don't know. I guess I must have been stupid. Can you believe she is telling everyone she had a miscarriage?" I shook my head in disbelief.

"Yeah, there really isn't a lower level of pathetic she could have possibly stooped to," Sam agreed, "Hey, do you want to go to the food court? I'm starving."

Sam POV-

We headed to the food court, but something was still bothering me. Danny had told Paulina that she couldn't actually get him to sleep with her, but did that mean she tried.

"Danny," I questioned, "What did you mean when you told Paulina that she 'couldn't actually get you to sleep with her?'"

"Well, this morning, she must have either paid Skulker or waited around for me to show up, but either way, she was trying to be all seductive and get me to go back to her place. Obviously, I said 'no,' but that's what happened," Danny shrugged.

"Wait, so at this point, the whole town knows that you are obviously with someone, and she still asked you to sleep with her just to prove a point?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"Apparently," Danny shook his head, rolling his eyes, "What do you want to bet that she will have some other boy at school get her pregnant, just so she can still claim that I got her pregnant?"

"Well, judging by how nuts she is, I would say that's a pretty good bet," I agreed, "Who do you think it will be. Dash?"

Danny shook his head, "No, any kid they have will be too…Dash. I wouldn't be surprised if she actually asks me again at school on Monday, just because I'm dating you. But when I say no, she'll probably choose someone else on bottom of the social ladder, because they will definitely do it, and they will definitely not tell, mostly because no one would believe them," Danny guessed.

He was probably right. She wouldn't choose someone in her own social group because they were all big mouths and they were all blatantly obvious to the rest of the school, just like any kid they had would be.

"I guess we'll see," I laughed.

We arrived in the food court, and I was overwhelmed with about a thousand different smells.

That's another thing about being pregnant. And the fat guy at the table directly in front of us, who smelled worse than the boy's locker room, was the worst smell of all.

Danny, with his overly sensitive senses, must have smelled this too, because he crinkled his nose and we walked over to a different table, much farther downwind.

"What do you want to eat?" Danny asked. I looked over the different food stands. I know what I usually get when we go to the mall: steamed veggies and a tofu burger, but for some reason, it didn't sound good.

"I don't know yet," I told him honestly, "Why don't you go get something, and I'll get something when you come back."

Danny shrugged, and headed over to the barbeque stand, before returning with a pulled pork sandwich.

'Oh shit,' I cursed, when the tangy smell of the cooked pork and barbeque sauce hit me, 'No!' I ordered myself, 'I have been a vegetarian for eight years and I'm not going back now!' But it really did smell good, and my mouth began to water.

I swallowed. Danny looked up.

"Sam are you alright?" he asked arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I swallowed again. This time Danny smirked, moving his sandwich a little closer to me.

"Sam, are you craving meat?" he asked, grinning.

"No!" I protested, but I didn't sound as confident as I wanted to.

"Are you sure?" he asked again, pulling out a few pieces of meat from the ends of his sandwich.

I said nothing.

"You know, Sam, if they babies are craving meat, you should eat it," he grinned again, wiping barbeque sauce off of his chin.

"Ugh, fine," I surrendered, taking his sandwich and biting down on it. Danny laughed in triumph, and got up to go purchase another sandwich.

"I blame you by the way," I told him through a mouth full of food when he sat back down.

"Me? Why?" he asked.

"Because you must have passed on liking meat to our kids, who are now making me go against everything I believe in!" I exclaimed.

Danny rolled his eyes.

"And just so you know. This is only because I'm pregnant! After this, I will never, ever, eat meat again!" I told him.

"Um hum," he smirked agreeably, like he didn't believe me.

"I'm serious!" I exclaimed.

"Sure you are, Sam," he grinned. I huffed in frustration, before the two of us went back to eating our sandwiches.

Eating, not enjoying. I was not enjoying this. Even if it did taste good.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Danny POV-

Sam and I left the mall shortly after we ate. I dropped her off at her house and she gave me a light peck goodbye, before we parted ways and I went home.

Other than the Skulker incident this morning, which wasn't really an incident, more like a routine—we show up, blast each other, he calls me whelp, and I suck him into a thermos—the amount of ghost activity had been suspiciously quiet. Which meant, at least, that I finally had time to relax (a little) and think about getting caught up on my schoolwork, before inevitably reconsidering and laying down on my bed to maybe catch a nap.

No such luck.

I was only seconds away from falling asleep, in that stage directly between consciousness and unconsciousness, when my ghost sense went off. It jerked me awake, it almost always does, but I wasn't quite ready to give up on the prospect of a nap yet, so I closed my eyes again, but not nearly in the same half-asleep phase that I had been in a few seconds ago.

My ghost sense went off again, and I groaned.

"Really?" I asked in frustration, "Nothing all week and when I'm trying to take a nap you show up?"

Sighing, I stood up, transforming, and phasing out of my house to do look around.

Well, there was no blasts or taunts or Box Ghost to greet me. Which could have meant that the interruption had been from some passing ghost, trying to find their way into the ghost zone through our portal. It happened sometimes, and I usually give them directions into my basement assuming that the ghost shield is off (occasionally, the ghosts didn't speak English which made giving directions more difficult).

However, when I'm around, at least, it wasn't very often that whatever I sensed wasn't a threat (or at least trying to be), and, in that case, the silence was usually a bad thing, it meant I was likely to be ambushed. As a result, I tensed up; holding myself in a fighting stance, but no ambush came.

I scanned the area again, this time looking down streets, which were busier than usually with the comfortable weather, for any signs of ghostly activity. I nearly shrugged and went back inside, but then something caught my eye.

A glowing green figure flashed between the crowds.

The closer I got, the better I could make out the form. It was a ghost I had never seen before, a marionette doll, from the looks of it, who seemed to be having a blast manipulating the citizens.

I stopped when I was directly behind him, crossing my arms and clearing my throat loudly. The ghost turned around, and honestly, I have to say, he is one of the disturbing ghosts I have ever seen (and I have seen Technus in a bath towel).

He was the same eerie green that all the other ghosts are, but he seemed to be made of wood, old wood, which was cracking and splintering down his face. His eyes were red, but lolled in different directions, unable to focus on anything in particular. His hinged jaw, full of yellowing wooden teeth, curved into a demented smile.

"Danny Phantom," he said in a cracked voice, full of sarcasm. His voice was unnatural and the hinges of his mouth squeaked before his jaw hit together with a knocking sound, "Are you here to stop me from manipulating the people of your town?"

"Um…Yeah," I replied, not quite sure how to respond to that. The ghost cackled loudly. Floating up higher, but not in a fluid motion, he floated up like the hinges of his wooden frame did not work in sync with each other.

"I hear your girlfriend has twins…I think I did a nice job," he cackled creepily again, flashing me another crooked, yellow, smile.

"Wait a minute!" I forcefully grabbed the ghost by his tattered overalls, venom lacing my voice, "You did that!"

He laughed, disappearing out of my grasp, and reappeared farther away, closer to the ground, cutting off one of the pigtails of a little girl in the process. He disappeared again, and reappeared in front of me.

"Of course!" the ghost exclaimed in cruel delight.

"Why?" I asked honestly confused. What purpose would a ghost, especially one that I have never met before, have in messing with Sam and my life?

"Because I am Hatchwork, the manipulator," he explained, in the same 'evil villain announcement' manor that I was used to. "I spent life cursed to be a puppet master's play thing, but no more. Now I am the one who controls the lives of others! And no one can control me any longer!" the ghost continued, screeching wickedly.

He waved his hands over a young couple who were sitting on a park bench, looking lovingly at each other, holding hands.

Then, the woman, suddenly slapped the man beside her, and within seconds, both were involved in two separate arguments with each other, that had nothing to do with the other one's argument.

"Alright, that's enough of this," I growled, unclipping the thermos from my belt. I looked around for the creepy puppet, but he had vanished again, leaving a trail of upset people on the streets, with one person to blame: me, the ghost who was currently floating above them.

'_Great and I was just starting to be more liked by people,' _I sighed, turning invisible and flying home.

**What do you think of Hatchwork? I didn't want to leave Danny and Sam not knowing how everything happened in the first place, but I couldn't create a justifiable reason for any of the other ghosts to…do that. So, I decided that I would make my own, but I didn't know what to do.**

**And then my parents and I went and toured a house in my neighborhood that's being built, and the front door creaked and slammed shut because of the wind, and I thought it was creepy…and then suddenly I had the idea of a creepy controlling marionette. (They honestly do give me the creeps. And porcelain dolls. I think it's because when I was little my grandma had a doll collection, and one of them was this ugly clown baby…ugh). Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Sam POV-

"Not one word, Tucker," I warned, taking a bite of a school cafeteria burger, there is a perk to being grouped with the outsiders: when the avid ultra-recyclo vegetarian suddenly picks up a burger, nobody notices. Nobody except Tucker, who smirked gleefully at my situation.

But, I wasn't kidding, if he opened his mouth again, he was going to wind up in a world of hurt courtesy of a severely hormonal pregnant woman.

"Dude, don't." Danny told him, seriously. At this, Tucker closed his mouth, almost looking pained by how much he wanted to ridicule me, but, for a change, he remained silent.

The past few days since we had gone shopping had gone relatively uneventfully, and now I was on my fifth week.

But I could tell that there is something that has been bothering Danny since after he dropped me off on Saturday, but, whatever it is, he hasn't told me yet.

No way am I letting that go.

So, when the bell rang, and Tucker left the table to get to his next class, I held Danny back.

"Danny, what's wrong?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"Nothing," he replied. Danny can't lie, especially not to me, so I arched my eyebrow in hi direction, crossing my arms impatiently.

"Okay," he sighed, "After I dropped you off on Saturday, my ghost sense went off and I went to check it out."

I nodded for him to continue.

"It was some marionette puppet ghost that I had never seen before. He told me…he told me that _he _was responsible for…us…you know…" Danny trailed off but I guessed what he meant. He finally found the ghost that had caused us to sleep together, but I failed to see why this discovery had made him so anxious.

"Okay, why?" I asked.

"That's the thing. I have no idea. I mean, just in the few seconds I was around this ghost I saw him messing with people, but it was like simple stuff. I have no idea why he would just to so deeply manipulate us when I have never even done anything to this ghost…unless…" Danny's eyebrows pulled together in thought.

"Unless…" I prompted.

"Unless _someone _paid him to do it, someone who doesn't have the ability to manipulate other people's emotions," Danny considered.

"Who?" I questioned.

Danny shook his head. "Well, there are like a million answers to that one. Anything to get me tied up, distracted, or with someone else to be used against me…so, I guess we're just going to have to wait to find out."

"What do you mean?" I wondered, not sure what he meant by waiting.

"If they want to use our kids to my disadvantage, they'll do it after they're born…and we'll be ready for them," he said.

I nodded, it seemed like a solid plan, or at least as solid of a plan as we could possibly get with so many variables involved, and we stood up, going to our next period class.

"Hey," I told him, "We have another doctor's appointment after school."

…

Danny POV-

After some bargaining with Jazz, I finally convinced her to let me use her car after school again.

We arrived at the appointment, signing in, only to be called to the back immediately afterwards.

The doctor asked Sam some questions, and then took another view of the babies. This time, instead of just two shapeless blobs, you could actually see them starting to take shape, curved, with little bumps in the blobs where arms and legs would start to form.

This time, the doctor seemed perplexed.

"Last week you told me you were only four weeks along, I am correct?" she clarified, and Sam nodded.

"At the time I realized that, at four weeks, we probably wouldn't be able to see much of anything, but I decided to take a look anyway because teenagers are so frequently wrong about the date of conception…I had just guessed that you two were very off because we were able to actually see the heartbeats which is usually only seen at ten weeks. But, looking at this now, if I had to guess, I would say that you are twelve weeks along instead of five," she told us. I had no doubt that that was my fault, any amount of ghost powers that I had genetically passed onto our kids, meant that they would grow quickly; I had just been hoping that it might have slowed down.

"So what does that mean?" Sam asked the doctor. She shook her head, looking back at the ultrasound.

"Honestly, I have never seen such advanced growth before. They seem to be progressing, and they seem to still be healthy, but I think you two should come in weekly instead of every couple weeks just so that they continue to progress smoothly," the doctor suggested.

"Okay…assuming that they continue at this same rate…how long do you think I will be pregnant?" Sam questioned.

"Well, because twins usually go less than a full term anyway, I'd say your pregnancy will be between a total of 25 and 30 weeks, which means you only have 20 to 25 more weeks to go," the doctor informed us.

"Wow…that's…wow," Sam exhaled, "Um…when will I start to show?"

"Soon," the doctor said, "Have you not told anyone yet?"

We shook our heads. The doctor looked at us with something resembling pity.

"Well, you're going to want to do that soon. You will start showing probably within the next week, if you're not already starting to," she said.

"When can we find out what we're having?" I asked. The doctor looked at me, then she lightly chuckled, like she was amused at my interest.

"Probably about three weeks from now," she told us.

The doctor finished her evaluation, and then the two of us left the doctor's office, climbing back into the car.

We both shared an unspoken question: when would we start telling everyone?


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Danny POV-

The next day at school, I was at my locker, casually putting away some text books before my next class, when I felt someone lean against the locker next to me. I thought it was Sam, because this as something that she frequently does, but when I closed my locker, I saw someone else in her place.

Paulina.

'_You have got to be kidding me!' _

"What do you want Paulina?" I asked, bored, walking away towards my next class.

She laughed in an obviously fake way, "You, silly!"

Wow, I had been kidding when I considered that she might actually ask me that, but I never thought it would actually happen.

"Not interested, Paulina, besides, you know I'm with Sam," I told her with zero inflection in my voice.

"Oh please," she tried to place her hand seductively on my arm, "That gloomy bitch? We both know you like me. Everybody likes me," I removed her hand.

"Listen, Paulina, the answer is no. We both only know that you would be using me because Phantom would not sleep with you and you need to get pregnant some other way with someone not high up in the social system. But, more than that, I am with SAM and no amount of you being a slut is going to change that," I told her, walking away without giving her a chance to respond.

I pity the poor guy who actually does wind up with all that crazy, and the poor kid stuck in the middle.

"I think you handled that well," I heard a voice, and turned to see Sam casually leaning around the corner, where she had been eavesdropping on the confrontation I had with Paulina.

"Thanks," I grinned at her.

"I do feel sorry for the poor guy that says yes, though," she laughed, "And if she does get pregnant, yeesh, poor kid."

"Haha, you read my mind," I laughed walking with her to our next classes.

Sam POV-

Yes, I had been eavesdropping…but I honestly wanted to see how Danny would handle this. I wanted to know if…any of his old feelings for her were still there.

Well, I have definitely been reassured.

He didn't have an ounce of regret or desire in his voice when he spoke to her, and, I definitely felt smug when he told her off.

I was definitely hoping that Paulina actually wouldn't go through with it. I mean, think about it. She wouldn't have the depth or compassion to actually care for a child, and would probably end up pawning the kid off on one of her nannies.

Hmm…that actually sounded…familiar.

I sighed. My childhood is not something I would wish upon anyone, even my worst enemy's child.

But, if that does happen, there is some satisfaction in the fact that Paulina may get a rebellious, Goth, as a child.

But then again, her child would be in school with my kids, and, um, no.

After school, Danny walked me home. Thankfully, I am not sick anymore, but, I still dizzy easily, so Danny insisted on walking me up the front steps.

"Thanks, Danny," I smiled at him, giving him a kiss, "See you later."

"Okay, Bye Sam," he smiled back at me.

I went inside. My parents, as usual, were not home yet, so I had free reign of the house. I grabbed a buttered cinnamon bagel from the pantry and a jar of pickles from the fridge. Yeah, maybe that's a weird craving combination, but, I'm pregnant, I don't care.

I went into my room, and suddenly feeling very, very warm, I took off my sweatshirt, changing into one of my older t-shirts, which was also much smaller, riding up right over my belly, which, was definitely showing.

I had a large amount of money in my account now, which I would definitely need when my parents found out and ultimately cut me off. I had been saving up my allowance of 500, dollars a week (yes, I know it's a lot. But my mom continues to think that if she gives me enough money for expensive designer clothes, that I will buy them) since I turned 12, and, in the past week, I bumped up the amount from 500 dollars to 25,000 dollars (doesn't that just say that my parents have too much money if they haven't realized that $175,000 dollars has gone missing in the past week), so now, I estimated that I have a little under $305,000.

"Samantha!" I heard my mom call, only a few steps outside of my room, and then, without bothering to knock, she barged in.

"Mom!" I exclaimed, in outrage, standing up to face her.

"Samantha, I just wanted to…" she trailed off, looking me over judgmentally.

'_Shit!' _I realized in panic, I had forgotten I was wearing this shirt. My mom's eyes flashed in anger.

"Samantha! What have you done!" she crossed her arms.

"I—I—uh," I had no idea how to respond to that. Eight years of rebellion and talking back, and I had no idea how to answer her.

"Well, this is not going to do, young lady. Ugh, just wait until your father hears about this. Jeremy! Come upstairs!" she called my dad, "Was it that Danny boy? I knew he was a bad influence. You will _never _be speaking to him again!" she ordered. Wow, I'm pretty sure that is the most words my mom has ever said to me at once.

"What? What is it?" my father asked, coming into my room.

"Look what _your _daughter has done!" she gestured to my body with a look of distaste. My dad, looked me over for a few seconds, and then, he understood, his scowl deepening with rage.

"Samantha? Did you…?" he asked in shock.

"Yes. She did. Now, come on. Put something else on Samantha, we're leaving," my mom ordered.

"What? Where are we going?" I asked.

"To the abortion clinic. Right now. Oh, I hope they haven't closed yet," she looked anxiously at her watch.

"What!? Mom, no!" I exclaimed.

"There will be no arguments about this, Samantha; this is a consequence of your mistakes. We are getting that _thing _out of you this instant. Do you have any idea, how what you've done will affect your father and I? Think of the scandal!" she announced in horror.

"It's not a _thing!_ It's a baby, two actually! Your grandchildren!" I screeched angrily.

My mom scoffed, "Listen to me, young lady. We do not _have _any grandchildren, because this is going to be taken care of now. You are sixteen and this is absolutely a disgrace."

"No." I stated simply, crossing my arms and planting my feet.

"Then you can consider yourself no longer a part of this family. Pack your things and get out," my dad spoke up. This surprised me. He usually takes my side, but his time, he seemed absolutely serious. My mom smirked in obvious agreement with my father's ultimatum, assuming that I would give in right now and go with them.

"Fine," I said. Grabbing my purple suitcase from my closet and started throwing things into it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my dad's solid expression crumble a little, when he realized that I was actually leaving. My mom merely nodded, leaving the room without even saying goodbye. My dad gave me one last pained look before following after her.

Once I had packed my stuff, I went to the hall closet and pulled out some of the expensive things that my mother won't miss, putting them in my bag to sell later, then, I went down the stairs. The housekeepers had lined up as a sort of farewell, waving goodbye sadly to me and muttering "adios" and "pobre hija." I hugged them and thanked them and said goodbye in broken Spanish. But they got the message, and their eyes teared up. Isn't funny how these women feel more emotion for my leaving than my own mother does?

I will never be to my kids what my mother was to me.

I waved one final goodbye, and closed the front door behind me, then I pulled out my cellphone and called Danny.

"Hello?" he answered on the first ring.

"Danny," my voice caught more than I meant it to, and I cleared my throat, "My parents just kicked me out. It's time."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Danny POV-

Oh God.

When Sam called me I knew exactly what she meant. She meant that it was time for her to move in with my family, and for me, for us, to tell my parents.

Shit.

I still had no idea how I was going to do this. I mean, I knew I was going to have to do it sooner or later, even the doctor told us that, but I didn't expect it to be the next day!

Sam's parents kicked her out, who's to say that mine will not do the same thing!

'I'm outside,' Sam texted me a few minutes later, and I flew out, phasing her suitcase back into my room and then flying back out to her. We walked into the living room, where only Jazz was sitting, reading a book by the light of a lamp. She looked up when we walked in, and, within two seconds she was able to take in the entire situation.

"Why don't you guys sit down, I'll go get mom and dad," she said, getting up. I nodded gratefully to her and sat next to Sam on the couch, a few seconds later, my parents entered the room, followed by Jazz.

"Danny? Sam? What is it? Jazz told us you had something to tell us?" my mom asked with concern, wringing her hands on a dish towel.

I glanced at Sam, who gave me a little nervous smile. I gulped.

"Um…I'm not really sure how to say this, but—"I started.

"Danny got Sam pregnant!" Jazz blurted out, before realizing what she had said and clamping a hand over her mouth, giving me an apologetic look when I glared at her.

"Danny?" my mom asked giving me the 'suspicious-disappointed-parent' look , "Is this true?"

"Yeah," I replied, "And now her parents kicked her out and she has nowhere to go."

"Well, of course she can stay here," my mom brushed it off like it wasn't even an issue, "but, how did this happen? How far along are you?" she asked I breathed a sigh of relief that they weren't kicking us out.

"Twelve weeks," Sam answered, Jazz gave us a weird look but she must have gotten from my expression not to say anything.

"It was when we went to one of the school functions. The punch must have been spiked because the next morning…" I told my parents, which was not technically a lie.

My mom nodded slowly, "I swear, don't we pay for security at that school so the punch _doesn't _get spiked, honestly. Have you had any doctor's appointments yet? Because, if not, we really need to get you in soon…"

"Don't worry mom, we have," I assured her.

"Oh good. So everything seems to be alright with our grandchild? No complications, right?" she asked.

"Grandchildren, actually," Sam smirked, "We're having twins."

I swear my mom's eyes doubled in size from the surprise.

"Twins?" she asked.

"Yep," I told them.

"Oh, well. So much needs to be done! We need to buy furniture and prepare the guest room and…" she rambled.

"Don't worry mom. We have that taken care of too," I told her.

"Daniel James Fenton, how long have you been planning things without even telling us!?" she exclaimed.

"Um…" I thought for a moment we found but when she was four weeks but Sam just told my parents it was twelve weeks so I subtracted the difference, "…about eight weeks," I grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck.

She rolled her eyes.

"Young man, you are in soo much trouble for this, by the way, but I'm glad everything is going well," she said, then she thought for a few seconds.

"And, Sam," she smiled at her, "You know we've always loved you like a daughter anyway, so you are definitely welcome here. I just cannot believe that Pamela and Jeremy actually kicked you out! You are their only daughter carrying their only grandchildren!" My mom shook her head. "Now, normally I would have you sleep in the guest room…but, given the circumstances, and the fact that that room with be made into the nursery, you can stay in Danny's room but I don't want any shenanigans, okay?"

"Of course not, Mrs. Fenton," Sam told her, politely, but there was a look of pure gratitude on her face from the fact that my mom was not kicking her out on the street.

My mom seemed, once again, deep in thought, and turned to Jazz.

"Young lady, you knew about this!" she accused.

"Um…kinda…not really…um, only for a week, I swear!" Jazz squirmed.

"Well, you should have told us," my mom sighed.

"I told her not to," I interjected, "Sam and I were waiting for the right time to tell everyone, so that's why Jazz didn't say anything."

Jazz looked at me, thankfully.

"Um…I think we're going to go upstairs, and unpack Sam's things," I cleared my throat, standing, and Sam followed my lead.

"Wow, honey, you are showing," my mom chuckled, "I think I still have some of my old maternity clothes if you want to borrow them."

"That's okay, I have some bigger stuff," Sam replied, and the two of us went upstairs.

"Well, that went better than I expected," I announced, flopping on my bed.

"I had no doubt that it would go well, your parents are actually good people," she said. She said it humorously, but I could see the sadness behind it at having been kicked out by her parents.

"Come here," I told her and she sat down next to me, leaning her head on my chest while I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, holding her close.

Neither of us said anything, we just sat like that for a few minutes. She sniffled only a little the entire time, almost more exhausted than upset.

"You know, the first thing she wanted me to do was get an abortion," Sam told me.

I said nothing; I just squeezed her shoulders a little tighter.

"You know, I'm not even upset. They were never good parents to me, if it hadn't been this, I probably would have been kicked out for something else eventually," Sam said, but I could tell she was still upset, she was just justifying the situation to herself.

"You are going to be the mother to our kids, that your mother never was to you," I told her, not quite sure where those words had come from, but, I knew that they were what she needed to hear.

"Thanks, Danny," she said, pulling out of the embrace to look at me, "For everything."

"Don't thank me, I'm the one that got you into this mess in the first place," I chuckled, but, I knew it was true. I was the reason that Sam could never go back home to her parents.

"No, you didn't. That ghost did. But you are the one who has helped me through it, so thank for that," she told me.

We sat in silence for another few minutes.

"So now that our families know, how long do you think it will be before everyone else knows?" I asked her.

"They probably already do," Sam rolled her eyes, but we both knew what we would be facing tomorrow.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Sam POV-

I woke up the next morning in Danny's bed, next to him. It's funny how different this was from the _first _time it happened.

He was snoring lightly, despite the fact that the alarm clock was blasting at full volume. And I lightly threw a pillow at his face, making him jump up groggily.

"Wha—What?" he asked rubbing his eyes.

"We need to go to school," I replied.

He groaned in response, but after a few seconds, he got out of bed.

"Why are you so tired anyway?" I asked him.

"Didn't you hear me get up like four times last night?" he questioned back.

"No. But let me guess: Box Ghost, Skulker, Technus, and Johnny 13?" I guessed.

"Yep. Nailed it," he chuckled lightly. I felt bad that Danny had to handle both thee ghost problems, and baby problems, I just wish there was something I could do to help.

Danny took off his shirt, tossing it onto the ground. I know we're dating and we're having a child together but I still wasn't entirely comfortable with seeing Danny more than half naked, and I _certainly _wasn't comfortable with him seeing me naked, so I gathered some of my clothes out of have the closet Danny had let me have, and went into the bathroom to change.

It really sucks that with Danny helping so much with my pregnancy, that I can't help him fight ghosts (not that he would really let me, considering I'm pregnant) but after the babies are born, it would be nice if we could share the ghost and baby responsibility.

I splashed water on my face, looking myself over as I dried my face with a washcloth. I am a lot paler than I used to be, definitely as pale as Danny, which I hadn't thought possible without being half-ghost. And, maybe, that was just because all the blood in my face was being directed somewhere else, but maybe not…

I put my hand to the mirror, and focused on it. Nothing happened. I sighed, trying one more time, and this time, my hand passed through the mirror. I grinned to myself.

I pulled it out, and it once again became solid. But, only a second later, did I realize how much energy I had just spent, when I wobbled on my feet. Okay, so maybe that was not a great thing to test out when I am already so dizzy from my pregnancy, but it worked.

I finished getting ready. I was wearing just a t-shirt, not a super tight t-shirt, but one that was tight enough so that you could see my belly. Hey, if everyone already knows, why hide it?

Danny was already down there when I sat across from him at the table, he looked up from his cereal and smiled at me, I grinned back, probably more than I intended to because I was still excited about my discovery a few minutes ago.

He looked like he was about to ask me something when his mom walked in.

"Hey guys," she greeted us, "Sam, you have that pregnancy glow about you," she smiled. Sure, let's go with that.

"Good morning, Mrs. Fenton," I replied, biting into a s'mores flavored poptart.

"Well, Jazz left early so you guys better get going if you want to make it to school on time," she told us. We nodded, quickly stuffing the last bites of our food into our mouths and heading out the front door.

"Okay, so why were you so cheery at breakfast?" Danny asked, arching an eyebrow in my direction.

I looked around, making sure nobody would be listening, "I think I got ghost powers too."

"What? No way," he exclaimed.

"Yeah, watch," I turned to the brick wall next to us, and did what I had done with the mirror, and my hand passed through again.

"Awesome," Danny grinned as I pulled my hand back out. This time, I only wobbled a little…hmm, maybe this just takes some getting used to.

Either way Danny noticed, and arched an eyebrow at me in concern.

"Yeah, I'm already dizzy so it uses more energy, but the dizziness should go away by next week," I assured him.

We arrived on campus a few minutes before class was about to start, and it seemed like everyone had come out to see the pregnant couple, even the teachers' eyes followed us as we walked into the school. I'm not going to lie, I didn't like it, but no way in hell was I going to let anyone know that I was bothered by their judgmental glares.

Danny and I split up, we both had gym first period, but we were in different gym classes: him with the boys, and me, with the girls. Danny looked like he was worried about me, but I smiled, giving him reassurance before we parted ways. Then, turning to the double doors, I swallowed hard.

'_Here we go.' _

The cheerleaders on the bleachers immediately looked at me, then, of course, they laughed. I rolled my eyes; I was not going to let that affect me. I went into the locker room, thankfully, the shirt covers my entire stomach, and then went back into the gym.

"Manson!" the coach called in her deep, almost manly voice, "I think you better sit out."

I nodded taking my seat on the bleachers. I had been able to make it the past week by faking injuries and pain when we weren't doing something light, but now that the secret was out, I had a feeling I would be spending the rest of the semester on the bench.

So, I pulled out a book, and started reading while everyone else threw hard rubber balls at each other. One of them flew up my way, I looked own to see Paulina and some other cheerleaders smirking. That was not an accident, that was a threat. So, when Paulina turned back around, I put as much force into the ball as I possibly could, and launched it at the back of her head.

"Sorry," I shrugged, obviously not sorry, and went back to reading my book.

After gym was over, we all went back into the locker room to change.

And, thirty seconds later, I was cornered by my locker. I sighed, having expected this.

"What Paulina?" I crossed my arms, impatiently.

"You're such a hypocrite!" one of her satellites announced.

"Wow, big word!" I patronized, "Would you like a gold star?"

"Shut it, Goth girl!" Paulina snapped, "How can you go around calling us shallow sluts when you're pregnant!"

"Well, for one thing, you are all sluts. For another, I have only slept with one guy, one time. Oh, and yeah, you are shallow, just yesterday you asked _my _boyfriend to sleep with you because you couldn't get Phantom to do it, and you didn't want to get caught in a lie," I replied, and the other cheerleaders gasped and looked at Paulina.

"Not true. I _am _pregnant with Phantom's baby, I was just trying to get _him _away from _you_," she sneered, the cheerleaders seemed to accept this, and were back on her side.

"Oh you're right, that's not shallow at all," I replied sarcastically, "Now, can you please move, because I have to get ready, and all of you are wearing way too much perfume," I told them.

It was true, and considering I could smell everything within a 100 yard radius, it smelled really strong.

Now, the shallow sluts seemed lost, because they hadn't gotten the rise out of me that they had wanted, so they awkwardly moved out of the way and went to straighten their hair before the next class.

Danny POV-

It is so awesome that Sam has ghost powers! I mean, no way am I sending her out to fight ghosts when she's pregnant…but maybe after, I wouldn't have to do it all the time. It makes me feel guilty saying that…but maybe she would want to…

We finished our walk to school and, even though we arrived two minutes before the bell was about to ring, there were still a lot of people on the school grounds, more than there normally would be, like they had been waiting for us. And, as we approached, it became apparent that they were, when all conversation dropped to a whisper, and all eyes were on us.

Obviously, it made me uncomfortable. But Sam was handling it well, standing tall, and glaring at anyone who gave her a dirty look.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any classes together until lunch, so I would be leaving her to face the high school scorn by herself. She smiled at me, to let me know she would be alright, and we went to our separate gym classes. I knew that these would be the hardest classes for both of us, because these were the classes where we would be left alone with the popular kids.

I went into the locker room to get ready, but Dash and the other football players were already waiting for me.

"Hey, it's Fentino," Dash announced. I mentally rolled my eyes at all the stupid ways he has managed to butcher my last name, "Dude, I heard you got your lady, pregnant."

"Yeah," I replied simply, providing no reaction while pulling my stuff out of my locker.

"Dude, you tapped that!" Several of the guys exchanged high fives. Okay, that was not the reaction I was expecting.

"Um…yeah," I said, still a little wary.

"So what was she like? You know what they say about those Goth girls," they crowded around me. I didn't know what he meant by that, and honestly I didn't want to know, plus, there was no way I was going into detail, especially when there were no details to remember.

"Don't know, we were drunk," I answered, not knowing anything else to say.

"Dude!" the slapped me on the back and walked out.

'_What just happened?' _I wondered. I can't believe it took getting Sam pregnant to actually become popular. Well, maybe not popular, but I hadn't gotten beaten up or shoved into a locker, so that was a good sign. I just hoped that Sam was okay.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Sam POV-

"Hey Sam, you alright?" Danny asked as we walked into lunch together.

"I'm fine," I brushed it off, "I'm a big girl."

"I know it's just that…um…" he stuttered.

I chuckled, giving him a kiss, "Relax. So the cheerleaders gave me a hard time, big deal. How'd it go for you?"

"Um…actually, a lot better than expected," he blushed, rubbing my neck sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled again.

"Boys, I swear!" I exclaimed, "You're enemies since first grade, than one finds out that the other had sex and suddenly you're best buddies."

"We're not best buddies…" he replied defensively.

I rolled her eyes again, "Okkaaay, Danny, whatever you say."

"So…you want to know who I think Paulina slept with," Danny supplied quietly whispering in my ear.

"You're kidding me, right? I know she tried on you but I didn't think she was actually serious. Who?!" I asked.

"Jacob Erik," he told me. I have known Jack vaguely since first grade. He's actually a few rungs lower than us, socially, and I'm pretty sure he's captain of the chess team, but he wasn't a bad looking kid. He had white-blonde hair, like the kind you can only be born with, and pale blue-green eyes. Clearly, Paulina was hoping that whatever kid she gets has white-blonde hair so that she can say it came from Phantom.

"How do you know?" I questioned.

"Well, he seemed a little too smug when Dash shoved him into a locker today," Danny pointed out.

"Poor guy doesn't even know what he's getting into," I remarked and we took our seats at our lunch table, "and, worse yet, her kid is going to be in school with our kids!"

"Yeah, that sucks," Tucker chimed in, "And I heard your folks kicked you out, tough break. I'm sorry, Sam."

I shook my head, "You know what, I'm over it." And, honestly, I am, at least for the most part. I'm sure there are still some emotions that I have internalized, but for right now, I wasn't going to let it bother me.

"Good for you," Tucker said, taking a bite of what might have been meatloaf…or cow turd, you can never be sure with school food.

"So, guess what Tuck?" Danny asked with a smirk. Knowing what he was going to say, I grinned, Tucker was going to flip.

"Mhmm," Tucker said through a mouth full of food.

"Sam has ghost powers too," he whispered and I smirked at his open-mouthed reaction.

"What? No fair!" Tucker exclaimed, "You, Sam, and your kids? Am I the only one who doesn't get any of this?"

"Well, you and Jazz. But, if it makes you feel any better, we don't know if it's permanent yet, or if it's just because I'm pregnant," I told him.

"Hey, you can get some too if you're willing to step into the portal," Danny smirked, knowing that there was no way Tucker would ever have the guts (or the tolerance for pain) to actually go through with that.

"Hey, no way man! I was there when it happened to you. I'm not getting shocked and half-dead," Tucker protested.

"Then stop complaining," Danny smirked again, taking a sip of his chocolate milk while Tucker glared at him.

"How do you think it happened?" Tucker asked.

"Well," I interjected, "I have a theory," the boys looked at me like they were indicating that I should continue. "Okay, well, my blood goes to the babies and their blood goes to me, right?" I asked and they nodded, "so, if their blood has ectoplasm…"

"Then you would have the ectoplasm mixed with your blood, giving you ghost powers," Danny finished.

"Exactly," I told him, "The only question is if the ectoplasm has affected my DNA or not, because if it has, then this will be permanent."

"Hmm…maybe I should train you…" Danny mused.

"How about next week, after the dizziness goes away," I grinned.

"Hey guys," I heard a voice behind us.

All three of us turned around to see Valerie standing there.

"Um…hi Valerie," I replied awkwardly. It's a pretty well-known fact that Valerie dislikes most of this table, or at least the most of us that _aren't _Danny, and it's a well-known fact that I'm not exactly her biggest fan either.

"Mind if I sit down?" she asked. I nodded awkwardly and she took the seat opposite of me.

She looked at me for a few seconds.

"So, I…heard," she cleared her throat.

"Really? Join the club," I replied sarcastically gesturing to the rest of the cafeteria.

She ignored me, "My mom got pregnant with me at seventeen," she said, now, that, I didn't know, and it took me a little off guard, "Before she died…she told me how hard it was. So, I guess, I kind of know what you're going through."

I didn't say anything, I simply nodded in understanding.

"So um…how far are you?" she asked.

"Twelve weeks," I replied and she nodded in response than she laughed, a little humorlessly.

"You know, I always knew you two would get together eventually. Even when Danny and I were dating, all he would talk about was you," she smiled reminiscently, "So when did you guys finally get together?"

"We were both drunk one night and…well…" I replied, laughing awkwardly. Valerie nodded like she was thinking about something else.

"So do you know what you're having yet?" she wondered.

"Not yet, we still have to wait a few weeks to find out the genders," I told her.

"Genders?" she questioned.

"Oh, yeah, we're having twins," I informed her.

Her eyes widened, "Wow! Twins?"

"Yep," I stated.

"Wow…um, well, congratulations, I guess?" she replied awkwardly like she didn't know if she should congratulate us or not.

"Um…Thanks?" I replied because I didn't know if I should accept her congratulations or not.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you later," she said before leaving the table. Danny, Tucker, and I shared a look.

"Well, that was weird," Danny said what we were all thinking.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Danny POV-

Sixth period was another period when I was away from Sam, but Tucker, on the other hand, sat directly to me.

He studied me closely.

"Dude, are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah…" I said, unfortunately it didn't sound very convincing, Tucker sighed, closing his text book and glancing around at the other people in our study hall. Thankfully, no one was paying attention to us, aside from a few looks I got every few seconds.

He lowered his voice, "Man, what is it?"

I sighed, "I told you about that ghost right?" I knew that I had told Tucker about Hatchwork, because I had asked him to look into it.

"Yeah. Sorry man, I didn't find anything about him," he said.

"Yeah, that's the problem. He just appeared out of nowhere to mess with Sam and me," I said.

"And?" Tucker pressed.

"_And _I don't think that it had been his idea," I replied quietly.

Tucker's eyes widened in realization, "okay, so who do you think put him up to it."

"Who else? The only one who could benefit from Sam getting pregnant with ghost powered kids, but didn't have the ability to do it himself," I growled.

It took him a moment, but eventually Tucker realized who I meant.

"Vlad," he breathed quietly. I nodded in response. There really was no other explanation, Vlad had the motive, but he in no way had the ability that Hatchwork does to manipulate actions and emotions without me noticing.

"Hey, could you not tell Sam about this?" I asked him.

He arched an eyebrow at me, "Starting a relationship with lies, probably not the best idea Danny."

"I'm not lying to her, if she asks me I'll tell her, I just don't want her to have more stress than she already does. I know she'll worry if she thinks that she and the babies are in danger," I sighed. She is the one who has had to deal with the pregnancy, the cravings, the judgmental girls, and the parents who kicked her out, the last thing that she needs is to thin that Vlad might have had a hand in her pregnancy, and might still want to use _her _and our kids for his own evil purposes.

"Okay. Hey, do you want me to do a sweep of his system, you know, see if I can find out any of his plans?" Tucker asked me.

"No, I doubt he would have put these plans into his computer, plus, that would only let us know that we are onto him," I replied.

Suddenly, my ghost sense went off. I sighed, irritated, raising my hand. Mrs. Smith didn't even bother to look up; she merely waved her hand, excusing me.

…

After school, Sam and I walked home. Despite the warmer temperatures we had recently been having, a cold chill hung on the wind, but I could tell that Sam thought it felt nice as she closed her eyes, allowing the breeze to pass over her skin. I grinned, it's funny how at ease she can be, despite everything that is going on. I looked over at the horizon, dark clouds were beginning to gather in the distance because it was predicted to storm later tonight, but for right now, the sun blazed overhead, heating our skin and contrasting with the cool breeze.

But, when we were just outside of my house she froze, planting her feet on the sidewalk and looking at my front door with c combination of anger, suspicion, and wariness.

"What? What is it?" I wondered, I hadn't sensed anything, but I knew better than to challenge her just by the look on her face.

"Something's wrong…" she said, but she didn't specify. She took a deep breath and walked towards the door. I stopped her, stepping in front of her defensively. If she was right, I wanted to be the first one to face the danger, not her.

I pushed open the door, and was surprised when I was not immediately hit with anything. I stepped into the living room, and what I saw made me move defensively in front of Sam again.

Vlad.

Okay, now all doubts about his involvement are gone.

I hadn't been able to sense him because he is not in his ghost form, but somehow, Sam had been able to, maybe it's a pregnancy thing.

"Ah, Daniel," he greeted me and I clenched my teeth, "And Samantha, I heard you were pregnant."

Sam didn't react to his taunt; instead, she took my hand, pulling me upstairs. We almost made it, but my parents came out of the kitchen.

"Danny boy!" my dad bellowed, "Look, Vladdy is staying for dinner!" he put an arm around Vlad's shoulders, much to Vlad's obvious distaste.

My mom couldn't help but seem a little smug at Vlad's discomfort.

"Yeah. We're having steak," she replied through gritted teeth, her knuckles white around the kitchen utensil in her hand, like she was prepared to swing it at his arrogant face.

Ever since Vlad had revealed to my mom that he has been in love with her since college, she has hated him almost as much as I do. Unfortunately, neither of us had had the heart to tell my dad that his so called "best friend" actually hated his guts and wanted to marry his wife, which is why he is still welcome in this house.

"Great mom, we'll be upstairs now," I said, this time pulling Sam as quickly as I could, up the stairs to my room, closing the door behind us.

"Ugh! I knew it!" I exclaimed in frustration.

"Knew what?" she asked.

"Earlier today I realized that Hatchwork probably wasn't working alone," I admitted.

She was quiet, thinking this over.

"What could Vlad possibly get out of having another ghost get us together?" she wondered.

"Well, he has always wanted a perfect half-ghost son," I growled bitterly. Sam inhaled sharply, angrily, and put her hands on her stomach reflexively, "Also, getting us together gives him something else he can use against me."

"We could have Tucker run a check, just to see if we can find out what his plans are," she suggested, but I shook my head.

"I told Tucker earlier that that probably would not be a good idea. It's likely that he hasn't put this plan on his system, and also then he would know we are onto him. Believe it or not, he probably thinks that we are still suspecting Hatchwork, he is actually _that _arrogant," I said.

"Wait a minute. You told Tucker about this before me!" she exclaimed accusingly.

"I was going to tell you, I just didn't want you to get stressed out, there is so much you have to worry about already," I told her.

She sighed, and put her hand on my face, making me look at her, "I appreciate that, Danny, but I need to know these things. Don't worry, I can handle it," she kissed me lightly.

"I know you _can _handle it, but I don't want you to _have _to handle it," I said.

"Danny, Sam, dinner!" My mom called from downstairs.

"Well," Sam said, standing up, albeit a little shakily, before I put my hand on her arm to stabilize her, "This should be interesting."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Sam POV-

As luck would have it, Danny and I were forced to sit directly across from Vlad. Danny was tense, but I'm sure that I am not much better as I angrily stabbed at my steak with a knife.

"Ooh, craving meat, are we?" Vlad asked coolly. It wasn't a question; not really, it was more like an observation designed to get a rise out of me.

I didn't feel like I really needed to justify that with a response as I stuck the chunk of meat in my mouth.

"So, Samantha," ugh, he used my full name in that same condescending tone that my parents did, making me want to place my steak knife directly between his eyes, "How far along are you?"

"Twelve weeks," I answered meeting his smug glare without faltering.

"Oh, really?" Vlad questioned in the same 'not-a-question' way that he did before, because, obviously, he knew that I was only five weeks along, not twelve, "And Maddie and Jack tell me that you two are having twins?"

"That' right," Danny answered curtly, glaring at Vlad, "Now, tell me, Vlad, did you actually have a _reason _for coming here or did you come just to interrogate Sam about her pregnancy?"

"Oh, Daniel, of course I had a reason for coming here: to spend time with your father (Vlad gritted his teeth) and your lovely mother, of course, it just seems that the easiest form of conversation is over what has become the largest source of gossip in town as of today," Vlad lied smoothly.

Funny, the way he talked about the gossip seems like he was proud, drinking in the fact that his evil plot had caused such a talk around the town.

"Tell me," Vlad smirked, "Do either of you have any names picked out yet?"

"We're waiting to find out the sex before we decide on any names," I replied, simply, without inflection or emotion.

"Ah," Vlad said, "You wouldn't name a child after me, would you?" This was seen as humorous by Danny's parents, who laughed (but I noticed that Mrs. Fenton laughed more tightly than Mr. Fenton).

"No," Danny and I replied unwaveringly in unison, glaring at Danny's arch rival.

"Suit yourselves," Vlad held up his hands in mock surrender, "But any child named after me would have been successful," another fake joke, that made Mr. Fenton laugh.

"…and a thieving fruitloop," Danny muttered almost inaudibly, but I could tell that Vlad heard when his expression turned angry, before he once again regained his composure.

"Well," Vlad clasped his hands, "I can't think of a better pair of teenagers to get pregnant. You two seem…capable, of course, if you should want to give up your children, perhaps I can be of assistance. As you know, I do not have a family of my own, and I have wanted one for a while," Vlad suggested.

"Not interested," Danny stated.

"Are you sure? Two children_, even strong and healthy_ children can be a handful," Vlad persisted.

Judging by the way he said _"…even strong and healthy…" _I knew he meant "_…especially with your abilities…" _Danny and I said nothing, we just glared at him, and I felt Danny put his hand on my knee protectively.

"No? Alright, well if you change your minds, you know where to find me," he stood up, "Thank you Maddie…Jack, for inviting me to dinner, but I really must be leaving now."

Once the door had closed behind him, I heard Danny breathe a sigh of relief, I, on the other hand, was still pissed, and I buried my knife in the last piece of steak.

"This was great Mads," Mr. Fenton said, giving her a kiss and picking up his plate, "But I'm gonna do work in the lab."

"M'kay hun, I'll be down in a minute," she replied, and once he was out of earshot, she turned to us, "Now, I know that Vlad is a creep, but maybe you two should not have acted the way you did."

We said nothing, seriously, what could we say? _'But he's the one who caused this in the first place! He's the reason I got pregnant! And now he wants our kids so that he can mold them to be his perfect half-ghost children!'_ Yeah, that wouldn't work.

There was definitely a part of me that wished that Danny had told his parents the truth, and then we could tell his mom _exactly_ the concerns we have about Vlad. But, at the same time, I knew the risk it would take to actually tell them, they might disown Danny, or experiment on him, or, maybe experiment on me now that I am carrying his children and are beginning to develop ghost powers myself.

His mom merely sighed at our silence, pursing her lips, and leaving the room.

"Danny?" I asked, and he looked up at me, still with anger at Vlad in his clear blue eyes, "Do you think that he will kidnap me while I am still pregnant, or do you think he will wait until after the babies are born?"

I didn't bother to question whether or not he _would _kidnap our children, because, at this point we both knew it was inevitable. He _is going _to kidnap them. The questions now are how and when.

Danny thought for a moment, like he really didn't want to answer that question. I know he wishes that he could say that Vlad wouldn't kidnap the babies, but he can't.

So finally he answered, "I don't know…after…probably, because he can make kidnapping children look more staged than kidnapping a pregnant woman."

I evaluated the logic in this response, and finally decided that Danny was right.

If he kidnapped _me_, that opens up all these questions about _why _someone would kidnap a pregnant woman. But kidnapping children? That, unfortunately, happens all the time. And, Vlad would, no doubt, plan it to when Mr. Fenton was asleep on the couch, just to make him seem irresponsible and at fault for the kidnapping.

"The babies' rooms are going to have to have a killer security system," I said finally. Danny said nothing, but I could already see the gears in his head turning.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

Sam POV-

The next morning, Danny and I were woken up by the shrill ring of my cellphone.

"Hello?" I muttered groggily into the receiver, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and siting up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. Next to me, Danny groaned, rolling over and putting a pillow over his head.

"Yes, is this Samantha Manson?" a woman's voice asked. I noted that she used my full name, but frankly, I am too tired to correct her.

"Yes," I replied hesitantly.

"Well, I'm sorry to wake you this early, but your blood tests came back," she said. Ah, the pregnancy clinic.

"And?" I wondered, knowing that there was more.

"Um…well, we found some…abnormalities in your blood. We would like you to come in early just so we can run a few more…diagnostic tests and make sure that your babies are not at risk," the woman said.

'_Well, shit,' _I thought, knowing exactly what they probably had found. By now, Danny was up, having heard the whole conversation with his enhanced hearing and studying me.

"Okay, when?" I asked, remaining calm.

"Um…the best time would be in half an hour, before our office opens, if that's alright," the woman told me. I knew we would be missing most of first period, but that was okay.

"Okay, we'll be there soon, thank you," I replied hanging up and looking at Danny, gauging his reaction.

"You can't possibly be serious?" he asked.

"I am serious. We have to go. Do you honestly think that any other OB-GYN wouldn't find the same thing in a blood test?" I asked him.

"Okay, but how are we going to explain it?" he questioned.

"Don't worry," I grinned at him, "I have a plan. Just get ready, we have to be there soon."

He nodded, obeying and grabbing some clothes from his closet. As usual, I went into the bathroom, quickly got dressed, and, deciding that I didn't feel like messing with my hair, I pulled it into a loose ponytail, applying some makeup and leaving the bathroom.

When I arrived downstairs, I saw Danny already arguing with Jazz.

"Come on, please?" he begged, "You know I wouldn't be asking you if I had any other choice."

"Alright, fine Danny. But after this you two are going to have to figure something else out! I can't always be giving you my car," she exclaimed, reluctantly handing him the keys.

He looked up at me, "Ready to go?"

I grabbed a cereal bar from the pantry and followed him out. And, after hitting no traffic, twenty minutes later, we arrived at the doctor's office.

As promised, we were the only people there, except for a few office girls who gave us suspicious looks.

"Oh, there you are," our doctor greeted us, "So, if you'll follow me, I'll show you what I mean."

She lead us, passed the examining rooms and into the back lab of the office.

"So here," she said, holding up a vile of red liquid, "is an average blood sample. And here," she said, pulling out another, however visibly different, vile, "Is yours." My blood sample was red, but a darker red, and also swirling with streaks of surprise, surprise, neon green ectoplasm. And, it was also faintly glowing.

Well, there was no way we would be talking our way out of that one, and judging by the look on the doctor's face, she did not want to hear our half-assed excuses.

"I have been an OB-GYN for 23 years, and never, not even in school, did I see something like this. However, my real concern is for your babies. Judging by the way this blood reacts with normal blood, I fear that they may be in danger," she said, but, obviously, that wasn't her _real _concern just by the way she looked at Danny and I.

"I wouldn't worry about that," I said matter-of-factly. The doctor almost seemed, taken aback.

"And you're sure of this?" the doctor arched an eyebrow.

"Positive," Danny replied. She studied him closely.

"Okay, well…if you wouldn't mind, I would like to run a few more tests—" the doctor started but I cut her off.

"Actually, I kind of do mind. I'm sorry," I told her.

"But this is a scientific breakthrough! Something that may have never been seen in a human being before!" the doctor protested.

"Yeah, that's another thing. We're going to need you to keep this 'scientific breakthrough' to yourself," I said, seriously.

"But—" the doctor tried to protest again.

"I'm sorry, but we can't let this get out or you could be solely responsible for putting our family in danger," I added.

The doctor was silent. Okay, so guilt wasn't working.

"And, if safety of our children is not _enough _of an incentive. I am also willing to write you a check for $25,000 right now, if you don't say anything, and immediately dispose of any and all of my blood samples after my pregnancy is over," I told her, without faltering. Again, the doctor seemed taken aback, but still she said nothing, staring at us, but I could tell that her resolve was beginning to crumble.

"$50,000 is my final offer, or you will never see any of those samples again, and we are switching to a different doctor," I decided, leaving my final offer hanging. Even though she would have to destroy the blood anyway, I knew she would not want to risk someone else taking credit for her discovery, and I knew she would not want to miss out on the observations that she would get throughout the rest of my pregnancy and after my kids are born . Plus, fifty thousand dollars was a lot of money to pass up.

"Deal," the doctor said finally, and we shook hands on it. I pulled my checkbook out of my purse and immediately scribbled down a check for fifty thousand dollars.

"How do I know that this check will work if I take it to the bank?" she asked suspiciously.

"If that check bounces, you can publish and research whatever you want," I told her, confidently.

"And if I cash the check and publish my discovery anyway," she questioned. Danny growled angrily.

"Well, if you do that. I can promise you we know some people who can make your life hell. Not to mention, I will personally make sure that you spend the rest of your life in jail," I smirked and the doctor visibly paled.

"I'll give you this," I conceded, "In ten years, you can publish what you found, provided that you eliminate our names from anything you write, and, provided that the blood sample still gets destroyed at the end of my pregnancy."

"Fine," the doctor agreed, not that she had much of a choice. This was another reason that choosing a doctor outside of Amity Park was a good idea. The further from Amity Park you get, the less people seem to know about ghosts. So, while our doctor probably knew _of _Danny Phantom, I'm sure she does not know of the whole 'Phantom buying pregnancy tests' thing, and, more than likely, she would not jump to ghosts as her immediate guess, so, thankfully that would mean that Danny's secret would remain safe.

"Good," I smirked, "Now that that is taken care of, we must be going." I turned, pausing in the doorway, and turning back to the doctor, "Remember, if you betray us. We will know, your research will be gone, and you will be ruined and in jail for the rest of your life."

And, with that, we left, avoiding the stares of the office girls all the way out of the building.

"Geesh, now I understand how Tucker hate's doctors' offices," Danny muttered.

"Ugh! I know! Can you believe the nerve of that woman?!" I exclaimed, clenching my fists.

"Yeah, but you handled it well. You should be a lawyer," Danny grinned.

"Hmm…you think?" I mused thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I can see it now, Sam Fenton Attorney at Law," he laughed.

"Sam Fenton?" I questioned, I was teasing (kind of) but the look of stunned realization on his face when he had recognized what he said was hilarious.

"Um…well…um…" he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing profusely.

I grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze and snapping him out of his embarrassment. He looked at me, and I gave him a smile. I'm not quite sure what he took that to mean, I'm not sure what I took that to mean, but he beamed happily.

We sat down in the car and I sighed, although I had not meant to.

"What's wrong?" he questioned instantly.

"It's just that, well, I'm not sure I _can_ actually become a lawyer, or anything, at least not now. Think about it Danny, we're going to have two little babies at home, it would be a lot of work for either of us to go to school and take care of them. Plus, assuming I _do _become a lawyer, I got pregnant at sixteen! How is that going to look if I try to get hired by anyone?!" I told him.

"Listen Sam, I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard. But I know you, and I know how smart and dedicated you are, so whether you want to become a lawyer or not, I have faith that you can do it. And, if you need me to be the stay-at-home dad, I will be. You know I'm not much for school anyway so I wasn't planning on going to college. I was actually thinking of opening my own business, and, you know what? That gives us a place to take the kids during the day. But also, we have my sister and parents as a support system, too. And you think no one will hire you? I think that they would have to be an idiot not to want someone as intelligent, clever, and beautiful as you. But, assuming that that _does _happen, I've never known you to back down from a challenge. Knowing you, you would open your own firm, your own family lawyer firm, and it would work, you know why? Because you are a great, trustworthy person, and people, especially people who are in the same position we are in now would come to you because they would know that you have a personal connection to their case. But, anyway, Sam, I don't want you to ever think you can't do anything, you are the most capable person I know, and I know you will make it in anything you set your mind to," Danny exhaled deeply after that long speech.

I was silent at first, taking in everything he had just said. And, I don't know if it is my hormones or maybe just the fact that Danny has such unbridled faith in me, but tears began to prick at the edge of my eyes. I hadn't noticed, but we had pulled up to the school. He looked at me, and concern clouded his face when he saw the tears.

"Sam, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset! I just—" I put my finger to his lips to make him stop apologizing, and then I smiled at him as one tear ran down my face.

"Don't be sorry," I said, "You have put more faith into me than anyone ever has. Thank you."

He smiled at me, wrapping his arms around me.

"I'm sorry that you have had to go so long without knowing how wonderful you are," he muttered quietly, only making a new tear stream down my face. H rubbed my back up and down, gently rhythmically, for a few minutes, until my eyes were dry, then he pulled back, looking at me.

He put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

"I think you need a milkshake," he smiled and pulled into the Nasty Burger.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

Sam POV-

We didn't go back to school after our chocolate milkshakes, in fact we didn't even drop off Jazz's car (so she was pissed at us when she came home), but, honestly, I didn't feel like going back, so we spent most of the day just talking (and maybe kissing, but that's beside the point).

We went to the park, which, at this time of day, was nearly deserted with the exception of the crazy woman who spends her days talking to herself and the pigeons.

"So what kind of business do you want to open?" I asked Danny, before taking a noisy sip of the bottom of my milkshake that refused to come up the straw.

"Well…honestly, I don't know, there are so many things I feel like would do well in this town," he thought.

"Such as?" I wondered, honestly curious.

"Well…I've always thought it would be cool to own a restaurant," he shrugged.

"Danny, honey, I hate to break it to you but…you can't cook," I told him. And it was true, thankfully, he has never made anything that has come to life, but I'm pretty sure I have seen him burn water.

"Gee, thanks," he remarked sarcastically, but he was smiling, "Yeah, I know I can't cook, but it would be cool. Realistically, I'm thinking maybe like a hardware store, or somewhere that specializes in ghosts and ghost weapons," he told me.

I arched an eyebrow, intrigued.

He took my intrigue as his cue to continue, "Well, obviously, it's no secret that we live in the most haunted city in the country, so we should embrace it. I mean, think about it, right now, me, my family, you, Tucker, Valerie, and Vlad are the only ones who _actually _know how to fight ghosts. That's eight people, seven who would actually do it, out of 15,000 and this city keeps growing with ghosts becoming a tourist attraction. Now, I'm not expecting people to jump into action or start protecting the town or anything, but it would probably be a good idea to market some gadgets and weapons for self-defense."

"You know, that's actually not a bad idea. You, or maybe even you parents could lead courses on how to use the weapons, and you could have a catalogue of all the ghosts you know so that people would know more about them," I suggested.

Danny seemed to ponder this, like I had suggested something that he hadn't thought about. Or maybe, my support was actually allowing him to actually put a deeper thought into this idea.

"Hmm…what should I call this business?" he asked me.

"…Ghost Gadget Hardware Store," I answered. Again, he seemed to ponder this, the idea bouncing off of the walls in his head.

"And you'll be the company lawyer?" he grinned.

"Are you expecting a lot of lawsuits?" I teased, grinning back.

"Well…if we let my dad run a class…" Danny said and we both burst out laughing.

When we finally stopped laughing, I decided to ask him more questions about this business idea.

"So what would you sell there?" I asked him.

"Well, on one side we could sell all the usual hardware stuff, but on the other we could have things like portable ghost shields, Spector Deflectors, thermoses, wrist rays, ghost security systems and shields for houses, ghost detectors, ghost nets, you know, the works, but not anything someone can hurt themselves with," Danny replied.

"You could sell ghost Tasers, rifles and pistols too, but you could make people pay for a license for those," I suggested.

"Ooh, good idea," Danny beamed.

I was glad that he felt so confident in this idea.

"Just make sure that everyone you sell a weapon to knows not to use it on you," I pointed out.

"Well, yeah," he scoffed playfully, "I'd be the number one good guy in the catalogue, and Vlad would be number one bad guy."

"Where would the Box Ghost rank?" I giggled.

"Public nuisance #1," Danny replied with a smile and we laughed.

"Well, Danny, I think this will actually work," I told him.

"You think so?" he asked, almost a little shocked.

"Yeah, I mean, you just created a solution to a public need, it's a great idea! And, I think, that if anyone can make it happen, it's you," I told him.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, confused.

"I mean, you are…well, actually the only person who has put a lot of thought and research behind the ghosts you fight. You're parents' judgment is clouded because they see all ghosts as evil, but you actually see the good in some ghosts, which is why, say, if your parents opened a hardware store, they would give probably the biggest weapons to anyone with one target: all ghosts, but, mostly you. But, you would be not only teaching people how to defend themselves, but you have the opportunity to actually change a public opinion about all ghosts, you can make a difference," I told him.

"Well, yeah, but do you think I actually am smart enough to run a business?" he wondered.

"Danny," I said, grasping his hands and looking at him in the eyes, "I _know _you are smart enough to run a business. Sure, your grades in school aren't the best but that's only because, half the time, you don't apply yourself and the other half, you are putting your effort and dedication into a town that doesn't even deserve your kindness. So, I know, if you put your heart into something that will make this town a better place, you can't lose."

"Or we could both just become motivational speakers," he smirked, giving me a kiss. I giggled.

"A strong plan 'B,'" I told him through a fit of giggles.

"If you can believe, you can achieve and succeed!" Danny mocked in a deep motivational speaker voice, causing us both to explode in laughter until we couldn't breathe and had to calm ourselves down, which, of course, only made us start laughing again.

"Ha…ha…" I tried to catch my breath.

I looked at Danny who had now stopped laughing and was looking at me with an expression I didn't really recognize. It looked like wonder and realization, at what, I didn't know, but there was…something else.

I was silent, staring into his deep, ice blue eyes, just waiting for him to say something.

"Sam…I love you," he said finally. I'll admit, I hadn't been expecting that, but that doesn't mean I didn't except it. It felt...right, like it had come so naturally to him. And, I felt the same sense of ease when I automatically replied.

"I love you too."

He smiled the kind of smile that lights up his whole face and his eyes danced with delight as he leaned close to me and kissed me. This wasn't like our other kisses that were usually so sweet and guarded, in this kiss I felt a kind of hunger behind it, a passion, I realized, that I was returning with the same ferocity.

I realized, that I have everything I have ever wanted: a family, both Danny's family, and soon to be one of my own, a guy who I love and who loves me back, a sense of self-worth, a future to look forward to, and, most importantly, all of these things have given me something to fight for.

And I'll be damned before I let anyone, especially Vlad, take that away from me.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Sam POV-

The next morning, Danny and I woke up, and, this time, we actually had to go to school.

I sighed, slumping to the floor, and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Danny followed suit, also getting up.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, he wasn't paying attention, he simply pulled off his t-shirt and dropped it to the floor, rummaging through his closet for something else to wear.

'_Hmm…' _I thought, today, not bothering to go into the bathroom, just to see if he would notice. I slipped off the t-shirt I was wearing, one of his, that I had taken to sleeping in since I had been here, and slipping on my favorite black bra (which was a little too small now that I am pregnant).

After about two seconds, I turned around to find that Danny was no longer obliviously searching through the closet; instead, he was looking at me if you can say "looking" is the right word. He was actually gawking, and, honestly, I'm surprised that drool wasn't dripping from his mouth. I cleared my throat and his eyes snapped up from my breasts to my eyes as he blushed a deep red and rubbed his neck guiltily like a kid who had got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Sorry…" he mumbled quietly, turning back around to finish getting dressed. I shook my head with a small smirk on my face. If it was anyone _but _Danny, I would have been outraged and offended, but at the same time, when someone is looking at you like that, it's hard _not _to feel a little flattered.

I continued getting ready, but I noticed that Danny kept giving me, not as sneaky as he thinks they were, looks out of the corner of his eye as I slipped off my shorts leaving me in just my undergarments. I turned around, and this time, Danny was in a pair of black boxer briefs, and I was the one staring.

"Like what you see?" he grinned raising an eyebrow. This time I blushed, turning around and putting on some large jeans and shirt. I pulled my hair back, clipping it so that it hung in a messy bun, with a few strands dangling in my face.

Using Danny's dresser mirror, I put on only a little makeup, deciding not to go as dark on my eyes and my lips.

Then, we both headed down for breakfast.

"You two look happy," Jazz pointed out, in a not-so-subtle suspicious way. We shared a look and shrugged in unison.

"Just glad, it's Friday, I guess," I supplied, pouring a bowl of cereal and sliding the box across the counter to Danny who caught it without even looking up from the headlines of the newspaper spread out on the countertop.

"'Is this Phantom's Lover?' Local girl, Paulina Hernandez, a junior at Casper High says that she is carrying his baby…" Danny read, and I practically spewed milk and chunks of cereal on the table, "Can you believe this bullshit?"

"Daniel James Fenton! Watch your mouth!" his mom scolded, suddenly coming up the stairs from the lab into the kitchen.

"Sorry, mom," Danny blushed, looking down and pouring a bowl of cereal for himself. I was glad that Danny had not mentioned anything _else _about the Paulina situation or his mom would have been freaking out for more than just his language.

"Well, anyway, I guess you're right, I just probably wouldn't have used those words," his mom gave him a look, "As is Phantom could actually get anybody pregnant. This is purely tabloid speculation and some girl just wanting to get her five minutes of fame!"

Danny and I shared a look of agreement.

"Yeah, there is no way she is carrying Phantom's baby, but I heard she was having sex with everyone in the school so that she could get pregnant and _say _that she is carrying his baby," Danny said.

"Danny, just to make sure, you didn't did you? We already have one pregnant woman in this house as a result of your doing and we certainly don't need another one. Plus, I thought I had raised you better than that and—"

"Jeez mom, relax, of course I didn't sleep with Paulina, I love Sam. But she did ask," Danny interrupted his mom's rant. I smiled a little when I heard him say that he loved, me, and his mom must have heard it too, because she stopped ranting and regarded us with a knowing smile.

"Well, you two kids better get to school," she told us, "Oh, and Sam, Jazz said that the doctor's called about your blood tests yesterday, is everything alright?"

I shot a glance at Jazz, before smoothly covering, "Oh, everything's fine. One of the technicians accidentally read the results wrong, everything's fine."

"Oh, oh good," she sighed in relief, "Well, anyway, have a nice day at school," she told the three of us as we walked out the front door.

"I never did ask you how you covered that up," Jazz wondered.

"Negotiation, bribery, and blackmail," I answered simply.

"Yes, she made her an offer she couldn't refuse," Danny said in the Godfather voice and I burst out laughing.

Jazz looked at the two of us suspiciously, but looked like she didn't really want to say anything.

We arrived at school a few minutes later and Danny and I walked to the gym.

He kissed me goodbye and we went our separate ways. When I stepped into the locker room, I immediately knew that something was wrong. For starters, the loudest group in the entire school was silent, and every cheerleader stared at me with smug satisfaction. And, a few seconds later, I knew why.

Someone had written 'Whore' in permanent marker across my gym locker.

I sighed, not upset, just annoyed and borderline pissed, but I was not going to let these bitches get the satisfaction of getting a rise out of me, so I acted like I didn't notice, and calmly opened my locker, getting into my gym clothes.

The girls all seemed thoroughly disappointed, and the mass of superficiality broke apart as everyone started to get into their gym clothes again.

"Oh, Paulina," I said, as I was exiting, "I saw you in the newspaper this morning. If I'm a whore because I'm pregnant, doesn't that make you one too?"

I smirked, closing the door behind me and taking my spot on the bleachers. Unfortunately, today I was not alone. Coach obviously didn't buy that Paulina was pregnant, but considering she let me sit on the side, she had to allow Paulina to do the same.

I ignored her, reading a book, but it was hard to do with her childishly scoffing every five seconds, obviously itching to get my attention. Rolling my eyes, I dramatically saved my spot and closed the book.

"What?" I asked her.

"Ugh, whatever, I wasn't even talking to you," she scoffed again.

"Hey, Paulina, I'm curious, how exactly to you plan to somehow convince Phantom that Jacob Erik's baby is his?" I questioned. Paulina paled.

"Ugh, that loser, what the hell are you talking about? And there won't _be _any convincing because the baby is his, case closed," she stuck her nose into the air.

"Okay, whatever, you just keep telling yourself that. Oh, tell me, do you think that the baby will have ghost powers?" I asked. She looked like she hadn't thought about that.

"No, I don't think so…why?" she asked.

"Well, it's just that with Danny's parents being ghost hunters and me being around him all the time…I happen to know a lot about ghosts. And, from what I know, ghost powers are usually genetic. I was just wondering how you plan to handle a half-ghost baby," I lied.

"I-I…We, don't think that the baby will take on his powers," she said faking confidence.

"Oh?" I pressed, "Why not?"

"Because he said that…um…only evil ghosts pass on their powers," she fabricated.

That has to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, seriously, how do girls this stupid even _live_ this long.

"Hmm…no, that's not it. Do you want to know the real reason why the baby won't get his powers?" I asked her.

She looked at me questionably, but didn't actually voice the question.

"Because the baby isn't his," I said in a low, dangerous voice. Just as Paulina looked like she was about to kill me, the whistle blew and coach released us to go get changed. I was up, and away from Paulina in a matter of seconds, already in the locker room.

Someone had washed the writing off of my locker. I looked around to see Valerie, who isn't even in my gym period, coming out of the bathroom.

She gave me a small smile and a nod, which I returned. And, with that, she walked out of the locker room and I got dressed for my next class.

Danny POV-

Well, I guess Sam wasn't wrong. Since I got her pregnant, all the guys treated me a lot better and I hadn't been shoved in a locker since the news got out.

"Hey dude," one football player whose name I don't know but I think it starts with a "B" (Bradley, Benson, Blake…who knows), "…is it true that girls get like really horny when their pregnant?"

"Um…" I blushed at the question, but the guys all took that as a yes.

"Oh, dude!" one guy gave me a high five "That's awesome, and she can't even get like pregnant again or anything!" Wow, these guys are stupid.

"So her folks kicked her out, is she staying with you?" Dash asked.

"Well yeah—" I started.

"In your bed?" he followed up the question.

"Well yeah but—"

"Dude! That kicks ass!" the football players hollered.

"Didn't know you had it in you Fenton," Dash clapped his hand on my shoulder and all of the football players left the locker room.

'_That will never stop being weird,' _I decided shaking my head and pulling my gym shirt over my head before racing out to join everyone else.

…

After gym, I met up with Sam to walk her to her next class.

"You seem pissed, is everything okay?" I asked her, taking note of her mood. To be honest, I was downplaying it. By pissed, I meant that she looked like she was ready to throw a car through a window; in fact, I was surprised that her eyes _weren't _glowing green. That's how pissed she was.

"It's nothing," she brushed it off.

"No, seriously Sam, what is it? What did those girls do?" I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"They just wrote something on my locker, that's all, no big deal," she tried to downplay it again.

"What did they write?" I asked.

"Whore," she growled and I felt my eyes flash green, "Danny, don't!" she ordered when I was about ready to attack Paulina and her hypocritical Slut Squad, "They're not worth it, besides, it's gone now."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Um…actually, Valerie of all people washed it off," she told me.

Well, that definitely made me feel a little better, but I still felt bad for Sam.

"Well, I'm sorry that happened to you. Girls are cruel," I told her. I wanted to do something for her to make her happy. Then, suddenly, I got an idea.

"Hey, I'm going to make you feel better!" I told her, she arched an eyebrow at me, quizzically, "I've got a surprise for you after school."

She opened her mouth, probably to tell me that I didn't need to do that but I kissed her, effectively cutting her off.

"See you at lunch," I called, leaving her at her next class and running off to mine.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Sam POV-

"Danny, what are we doing up here?" I asked arching an eyebrow at him as I looked over the side of the flat roof of an abandoned office building that stood five stories tall below my feet. Danny had kept his word about a surprise, because up until this point I had gotten nothing from him aside from a few mischievous grins.

"Surprise!" he exclaimed.

I arch an eyebrow again, still not understanding what he meant.

"I'm going to train you," he told me, grinning widely. I smiled back, happy to finally be learning how to use these ghost powers. I know I might not have them forever, but it would still be nice to occasionally be able to walk through walls while I am pregnant.

"Great! What first?" I questioned, rolling up and down onto my toes.

"Hmm…" Danny thought, probably going through an entire list of his powers in his head, "I think the first thing I learned how to do was become invisible."

I nodded, waiting for him to tell me more.

"So um…" he rubbed the back of his neck, "Just close your eyes," he walked over and put his hands on my shoulders, "Relax, and focus on becoming invisible." I did as he said, closing my eye and releasing the tension in my shoulders, and willing myself to become invisible. A few seconds later, I peeked open my eye to see if it had worked

Nothing.

I looked at Danny, who merely looked thoughtful.

"Hmm…okay, let's try this," he made his hand invisible and placed it on my arm. Although I couldn't see it, I felt his cool skin against my arm, then I felt the invisibility spread over my body with a tingling sensation, "When I remove my hand, just try and hold it, okay?" he asked me.

I nodded in response, collecting my focus.

I felt his hand leave my arm, and, almost instantly I felt the tingling begin to retreat from the point where his hand had been. But I maintained my focus, closing my eyes and concentrating on expanding the sensation to the point where it had been before.

"You did it!" I heard Danny beam, I opened my eyes, and for a split second, my body had disappeared. But, with my loss of focus, I returned to being visible directly afterwards.

I sighed; this is a lot harder than Danny makes it look. Even when he first got his powers, sure he screwed up a lot, but he was always able to fix things quickly.

"Hey, it's okay," he told me encouragingly, "Try it again, just do what you did before."

I nodded, once again closing my eyes. I felt the tingling spread over my body again, somehow warmer this time, radiating outwards from my chest until it had stretched to the very ends of my fingertips.

I hesitantly opened my eyes, not wanting the invisibility to fade, but, this time, it didn't. I still could not see my body.

Next to me, Danny was smiling like a kid in a candy store.

"Whoo! Way to go, Sam!" he cheered, clapping for me. I'm sure, if I had been visible right now, I would have been blushing at the praise.

I moved my foot, although it was weird not to actually _see _my foot moving, and, surprisingly, the invisibility held. I walked a full circle around Danny before finally making myself visible again.

Danny POV-

The look on Sam's face when she had been able to get the hang of the invisibility on her own was priceless. She looked like she had just won the lottery, and it made me happy to see her so happy. If there's anything I know about Sam, it's that, most of her life, she hasn't been told how great she is and she hasn't been given any admiration about anything.

So, I hope that I will be able to spend the rest of my life making her as happy as she is now.

…

We stayed on the roof for several hours before the sun began to fall behind the horizon and we decided to go home. I was impressed actually; Sam had learned a hell of a lot more in a few hours than I had learned in the first two months I had my powers, already mastering invisibility, intangibility, and ghost rays. We were even able to get a little flying in. However, Sam was not as confident in this.

It's one thing for her to enjoy flying when I am the one completely supporting her, but when I let go, and she looks down, she falters and drops about ten feet, where I have to catch her.

But I have faith in Sam, she'll get there.

Another thing is, no matter how hard we tried, we could not get her to transform like I usually do, which, unfortunately, leads me to believe that these powers are only temporary.

We flew home…well, _I _flew home, with Sam's hand in mine. We stopped directly outside of my house where I changed back into my human form before we walked up the front steps into the living room.

Once we were inside, I noticed that all of the lights were on, but nobody was around. I glanced at Sam to see if she was picking up any bad feelings like she had when Vlad was here. There was no anxiety on her face, only confusion, the same as me.

"Hello?" I called to the empty room.

"We're in the back, Danny," my mother's voice replied. I glanced at Sam, who merely shrugged before walking towards the back.

Outside the screen backdoor of my house, it my small backyard and a little gravel strip that leads to the garage, which houses only Jazz's car and a mountain of junk.

The garage door, however, was open, with the light on, which is a relatively unusual occurrence.

Sam and I walked into the garage.

"Surprise!" my parents and sister exclaimed all clustered around a black SUV.

"What is this?" I asked questionably.

"Well, Danny, your father and I have been thinking about getting you a car since your birthday, but we wanted to make sure that you could handle the responsibility. Well, now we _know _you can. Plus, you can't continue using Jazz's car," my mom said, and Jazz nodded enthusiastically in agreement, "So now, this car belongs to you and Sam."

The car was nothing special, a Chevy Equinox. Not new; in fact, if I had to guess I would say it was about four years old, but I thought it was great. This is exactly what Sam and I need, a safe, spacious, car, which would allow us to transport ourselves and our babies from point A to point B.

"You knew about this?" Sam accused.

"No, I didn't, I swear!" I told her. I knew she probably didn't believe me because she has this weird pride thing where she doesn't want to be a burden, financially or otherwise, on anyone else.

"No, Sam," my mom smiled, putting her hand on Sam's shoulder, "Danny didn't know anything about this. And don't you dare say that it's too much, because I'm not listening. This is our gift to you."

Sam smiled at my mom, giving her a hug and taking my mom by surprise, "Thank you, Mrs. Fenton, it's wonderful."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," she replied.

"Yeah," I added, "Thank you guys soo much, this really means a lot."

My mom nodded at me with a smile as a way of accepting my gratitude.

"Danny Boy, why don't you two come and check it out?" my dad exclaimed. I looked at Sam, who grinned, obviously eager to do so. The two of us got in the front seats, with me behind the wheel. I adjusted the mirrors and the seats and I noticed Sam doing the same.

The inside was nice, it didn't exactly smell like new car, but it did smell nice, like someone had had a vanilla scented air freshener in it recently. Sam and I looked in the back to check out how much space there was, when we noticed two car seats already set up, in fact, they were the exact same ones we had ordered in the store, which, somehow, I knew, my mom had already discovered, and, no doubt cancelled them on our order.

I laughed out loud.

Even though I knew Sam didn't like the idea of anyone paying for anything else, I saw the corners of her mouth turn up happily.

Finally, we got out.

"Well, what do you think?" my mom asked.

"It's perfect, we even already bought the same car seats," Sam replied.

"Oh, I know. I found your receipt, called the store and had them taken off of your order so that we could buy them," my mom smirked a little.

I expected Sam to argue and say that they shouldn't have done that but instead, a bright smile lit up her face with happiness and gratitude, and she thanked them again.

"Don't think anything of it, honey," my mom replied, pulling Sam into a hug, "We just want you and our grandkids to be happy."

**Guess what happens next chapter, that's right, we get to find out the genders and I will have all of you vote on the final poll of the names that you submitted earlier. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank for reading! **


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

Sam POV-

On our way to our next (regularly scheduled) doctor's appointment in our new car, I was ecstatic.

And, apparently, I wasn't doing a great job of masking my excitement because every time Danny looked over at me he chuckled. But I knew he was just as excited because he fidgeted and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel every few seconds.

Today we would be finding out what we are actually having.

"What do you think we're going to have?" Danny asked me.

"I think we're going to have a boy and a girl," I replied. I just kind of had this feeling that I was right.

More than that, I kind of hoped that I was right. I mean, obviously, whatever we get would be great, but two boys, two boys with ghost powers, would be a handful, plus, I think Danny would be really good with a girl. She would have him wrapped around his finger in no time. And if we had two girls, well, they'd definitely be easier to handle, but Danny and I both wanted a boy too.

Danny didn't say anything; he merely looked back at the traffic in front of us, thoughtfully.

Finally, we turned into the parking lot and parked in front of the OB-GYN clinic.

We walked in, and some of the office girls still regarded us weirdly, but the one at the counter, who had not been there when we had been called here in the morning, cheerfully checked us in.

Our doctor called us back and we went into the ultrasound room. She clearly was irritated about our last…meeting, but now she at least seemed like she was trying to be professional. However, the friendly "how are you doing" dialogue was gone as she silently, squirted the cold jelly on my stomach. I was fine with this, I really had nothing to say to the doctor, plus, I'm so anxious, I'm not sure that I actually _could _have carried out a conversation right now.

"Well, you're still going through this pregnancy quickly, nearly ten weeks from where you should be," the doctor finally said, though now she seemed to leave something out at the end. I knew that these excluded words were probably, "and now I know why," but at this moment, I really didn't care what she thinks is going on.

The doctor moved the little tool through the jelly and I saw the images of our babies appear on the screen. They were a lot more defined now, still a grainy image, but now I could see their heads and arms and legs. It took a few minutes for the doctor to sift through the image enough to find what we were looking for.

"Well," the doctor said finally, "It looks like you're having one boy and one girl."

"Yes! I knew it!" I exclaimed happily. Danny laughed and hugged me. I hugged him back.

I looked at the ultrasound. Our son, had his elbow in his sister's face, and she, in turn, had her knee in his stomach. Wow, not even born yet and already fighting.

The doctor printed out the image and handed it to us, then she left the room, clear not wanting to talk to us any more than she had to.

"So I guess we can start thinking about names," Danny grinned at me.

"Yeah, wow, names already, it seems like only two weeks ago I found out I was pregnant," I laughed, Danny laughed too, catching on. It _was _only two weeks ago that I found out I was pregnant.

"Any names you really want?" I asked him as I got up and we walked out of the room and into the waiting room, I didn't really have any preferences of one name over another, but I was interested to see what he thought. We signed a couple forms before leaving and going into the parking lot.

"Well…" he thought, "For the boy, I was thinking…Grayson Xavier Fenton…is it okay if we use my last name or do you want to use your last name?" he asked me.

"We can use yours, after all, I was disowned," I told him, "I like Grayson, I think that's perfect," I commented about Grayson. I thought for a minute, applying that name to one of the babies in my stomach, the baby who was elbowing his sister. Yes, Grayson Xavier Fenton was perfect.

"What about the girl?" I asked him.

"I don't know about a first name, but I like Luna for a middle name," he told me. I nodded, thinking over my list of names.

"Do you still have my list?" I asked him. He grinned and pulled the list out of his back pocket, handing it to me.

"Okay, I like Addison, Cadence, Elizabeth, Olivia, and Riley best with Luna," I told him.

"Why?" he asked, not criticizing my choices, just seeming wanting to honestly know why I had picked the names I had.

"Well," I blushed, "Partially because most of them can be shortened to nicknames."

"Ahh…so we're making the name shortening thing genetic, huh?" Danny smirked referring to the fact that Danny and I have both shortened the names given to us at birth, "What are the shortened versions?"

"Well, Addison can be shortened to Addie, Cadence to Cady, Elizabeth to Lizzie, and Olivia and Riley… they can't really be shortened easily, I just like those," I grinned.

"Hmm…" Danny mused, "Maybe we should have my family vote on which one they like best, mine and your votes counting for two, of course."

"Sound like a plan," I agreed.

**Okay people. The reason I chose the names I did, because, for boys, the votes for Grayson and Xavier were pretty much tied, so I decided on combining them. And for girls, well, I got a variety of answers with Luna and Faith being the most popular, but I couldn't make those two sound very good together, so I decided to make Luna the middle name and use several other names from the list as her first name. I used Luna instead of Faith because I figured she could use it as her phantom name, i.e. Luna Phantom (sounds pretty cool, right?) and it probably would be a little harder for people to guess that it is her. For the boy, since is name is Grayson, he can be Gray Phantom, which also sounds very cool.**

**Now, the girl's first name is up to all of you. Using the five names I just provided: Addison (Addie), Cadence (Cady), Elizabeth (Lizzie), Olivia, and Riley. I want you all to comment your favorite by tomorrow (5/12/13) at 7:00 pm. At that point, I will select the one with the most comments. However if it ends in a tie, I will select the one I like the best between the tied names.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. **


	21. Chapter 21

**And the final vote is in. In fourth place with one vote we have Cadence, tied for third place we have Riley and Olivia with two votes, in second place we have Addison with four votes, and finally, rounding out our completion in first place with five votes is Elizabeth. Congratulations to all of you who voted for Elizabeth, but thank you all for voting. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

Chapter 21:

Danny POV-

My family bombarded us with questions about our appointment before we could even get in the front door.

"Did you find out the genders?"

"What are you having?"

"Do we have any fudge?" Okay, so maybe my dad didn't care as much as the women in my family, but then he laughed and looked at us expectantly.

I rolled my eyes and smirked at Sam.

"We're having a boy and a girl!" Sam told them exclaimed. My mom and my sister cheered happily and hugged us. Somehow, my mom didn't notice, or maybe didn't care that, even at thirteen weeks (which is what my mom and dad still assumed us to be at), Sam should not have been far enough along for the doctor to find out the genders. But, at the same time, I was glad she hadn't noticed, that would just open up a whole mess of questions I wasn't ready to answer.

"Oh, I knew it! Do you guys have any names picked out?" my mom questioned.

"We have the boy's name picked out: Grayson Xavier Fenton," Sam replied and my mom beamed proudly, hugging Sam again, probably a little too tightly, just judging by the 'I-can't-breathe' look on Sam's face.

"What about my niece?" Jazz asked in excitement.

"Well, we have the middle name: Luna, but we were going to let you guys help us decide on the first name," I told them.

By now, we had finally, actually, gotten _into _the house, and Sam and I went to sit on the couch.

Jazz grinned happily, pulling out a pad of paper and ripping it into strips, handing them to everyone. Then she passed out the pens so we could write down our choices.

"What are the choices?" Jazz questioned enthusiastically bouncing up and down on the old worn-out cushions of the couch.

"Olivia, Elizabeth, Cadence, Riley, or Addison," Sam told them, "So write your choice on the paper. Danny and my votes count for two."

My family members nodded, scribbling down their choices and placing them in the decorative bowl in the center of the coffee table. I thought about the choices. I knew Jazz liked the name Olivia, so that would, no doubt, be her choice. I didn't know what my parents wanted, or even what Sam had in mind. We hadn't discussed which name we liked the best on the way home but I had a feeling she would pick one of the names that could be shortened to a nickname, which is what I was leaning towards too. But this big of a decision was, honestly, difficult for me. I mean, I was okay with all of the names Sam picked out, and I would like anything that we ended up on, but I wanted Sam to be able to name our daughter what she wants. And because I don't _know _what she wants, I'm having a hard time making this decision.

Right now, I was torn between the names Addison and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Luna Fenton. Lizzie Luna Fenton. Elizabeth Fenton. Lizzie Fenton. Elizabeth. Lizzie.

Addison Luna Fenton. Addie Luna Fenton. Addison Fenton. Addie Fenton. Addison. Addie.

I played with every form of each name, trying to find out which one I liked best. And which one would be most effective when I had to play the 'middle-name-card.'

Grayson and Elizabeth. Grayson and Lizzie.

Grayson and Addison. Grayson and Addie.

I tried to see which name would sound best with her brother's name too.

I glanced at Sam out of the corner of my eye. Trying to see if she could maybe give me some insight into what I wanted to choose, but she wasn't letting anything slip. She covered her little piece of paper with her hand, not letting anyone see what she had written. Although, judging by the look on her face, she hadn't even written anything yet. She looked like she was mulling over the names the same way I had, still undecided about what to pick.

I took a deep breath, ripping my paper in half and writing the name I had finally decided on each slip, before folding them up and placing them into the decorative bowl.

A few seconds later, Sam did the same.

Now, all the votes were in the bowl. And Jazz, who I guess had nominated herself as official vote counter, dumped out all the votes onto the table.

"Okay, let's see," she said, unfolding the votes and putting them in separate piles, "One vote for Olivia, one vote for Addison and, wow, five votes for Elizabeth. It looks like we have a winner! Elizabeth Luna Fenton," she beamed, although her choice had not won.

"Wait did you vote for Elizabeth too?" I asked Sam who nodded at me with a smile.

"Who else voted for Elizabeth?" I wondered.

"I did," my mom spoke up, "I had a grandmother named Elizabeth and I thought it would be nice to carry on the name," she told me. I grinned at her.

"Elizabeth Luna Fenton and Grayson Xavier Fenton. They're perfect!" I announced. Saying their names out loud made it so much more real. We didn't just have two babies anymore; we now have a son and a daughter who we already have names for.

This meant that we would have to start getting things ready soon, especially considering that Sam would likely be delivering in less than ten weeks.

And now, I had a plan.

After our baby naming ceremony, Sam went upstairs, and I was alone with the rest of my family.

"Hey Mom, Jazz, would you guys mind doing me a favor?" I asked.

"Sure Danny, what is it?" my mom answered.

"Could you take Sam shopping for the rest of the evening? I want to surprise her and do something special for her, but I need her out of the house," I told them. My mom and my sister shared a look, and something told me that they had been waiting for the excuse to do this.

"Absolutely, Danny," Jazz grinned and went upstairs to collect Sam. I could hear Sam's protests against a shopping trip from where I sat, and I couldn't help but smirk to myself. Finally, she must have relented because she came downstairs in the tow of my sister's grip, not looking a little annoyed.

"Apparently, I'm going shopping," she grumbled.

"Okay, Jack, Danny, we'll be back later," my mom announced, gathering her purse and following Sam and Jazz out the front door.

"So what is this surprise you have for Sam?" my dad asked me.

"Well, I wanted to get the nursery ready now that we know what we're having," I told him.

"Great idea, Danny Boy," my dad clapped me on the back, "If you get everything ready, I'll help you."

I smiled gratefully at him, before getting up to use the phone. I hoped that baby store we had found everything we wanted in was still open.

"Um…yes, I think it's under Manson. Is there any way you could deliver our order tonight? Yes, tonight. Okay great, I'll give you the address. Can I add a few things to my order?" I asked, looking up the catalogue quickly online, "Okay, thanks, it's the purple paint splatter sheet set, and the blue star sheet set. Matching decorations? Yeah, okay, throw those in to. An hour? Okay, that sounds great. See you then," I hung up the phone, part one of my plan already underway.

"Hey dad, would you mind picking up some paint from the hardware store?" I asked him.

"Sure, Danny Boy, what colors do you need?" he asked me. Now, that was an interesting question. I didn't know the exact colors I needed, but if I wanted this done by the time Sam got home, I would have to try. So I printed out the pictures of the sheet sets, circling the color I needed in black pen, and handed them to my dad. I knew this might be a risk, but I certainly hoped my dad would be able to handle it.

"No, problem, son. I'll be back in twenty," he told me, leaving the house. I heard the Fenton RV rev to life in the driveway. He could have just used my car, but I guess I can only ask so much of my dad at one time. I chuckled to myself a little, going up to the guest room. Right now, the only things in the room were a queen sized bed and a dresser. I transformed into my ghost form. Getting the furniture out would be the easy part, finding a place to put them might be a little more difficult.

'_Although,' _I thought. Right now, I have a twin bed. Yes, Sam and I have been sharing a twin bed. Not the easiest or most comfortable thing in the world, and, several time during the night, if I'm not up fighting ghosts, I get kicked, often, off of the bed. Not that I would have told this to Sam, '_I think this will be going in my room.'_

So picking up the bed, I phased it into my room. Then I picked up my bed, and moved it up into the Ops center to replace the crappy, emergency cot we have up there.

Then I went back down into the nursery. All that was left was the light-brown stained dresser which I pushed into the unused side of the closet. We would probably need the extra storage anyway. So now, with an empty room, I laid some tarps from the garage on the carpeted floor, and brought in the ladder. Then, I flew up to the ceiling and ran a line of tape directly down the center of the room on both sides so now one side could be painted light purple and the other could be painted blue. I heard the loud RV barrel into the driveway, and I knew my dad was back. So, changing back to my human form, I went to help him carry the paint upstairs.

"What do you want to do about the…furniture…? Danny, where did the furniture go?" my dad asked when he saw that I had rendered the guest room empty.

"Well, I moved the bed to my room, moved my bed up into the Ops center, and moved the dresser into the closet," I told him.

"By yourself?" he questioned. Hmm…maybe I had made that way too obvious.

"Well, I took the beds apart first," I lied, badly, but, thankfully my dad didn't notice.

"Okay, well, then, let's get started," my dad said, opening the paint cans and pouring the paint into the paint trays. The paint, surprisingly enough, was actually the right colors.

"Okay, why don't you paint this side of the room purple and I'll paint this side blue," I told him. My dad agreed, and we set out to painting. Whenever my dad had his back turned, I would use my ghost powers to paint the corners and places I couldn't reach with the rollers, which definitely made the process go a little faster.

Half an hour later, my side of the room was completely painted, so I picked up another paintbrush and helped my dad finish his side, this time, from the ladder. My dad didn't seem to notice that I hadn't been using the ladder to paint my side of the room.

Thank God for the obliviousness of my parents.

Several minutes later, I heard, what I assumed must have been the truck from the baby store pull up in front of my house and I went down to meet them. I directed the two men who had brought the furniture, up to the guest room and old them to set the unopened crib boxes and the black dresser in the center of the floor. Next the accessories came up, and it was a lot more than I had expected: pillows and curtains and blankets and wall decals and mobiles for over the cribs.

Finally, the men left, and I forged Sam's signature on the delivery form (don't look at me like that! She can forge my signature too).

I assembled the cribs, which was harder than I actually thought it would be, setting them where I wanted them to go, but not pushing the bed all the way back against the wet painted wall.

I did the same with the one dresser we had ordered, which went between the two cribs on the back wall below to only window in the bedroom. I put the sheets on the beds and attached the mobiles to the beds, and then I put all the extra pillows and blankets and stuff inside the cribs at least until I had an idea what to do with them.

I then picked up the tarps off of the floor, folding them up and carrying them downstairs with the ladder into the garage.

I went back upstairs to admire my work. It actually looked good. I just hoped Sam would like it.

I heard Jazz's car pull up out front, which meant that I could now put my work to the test.

I ran downstairs, where my dad was currently trying to stall, not sure if I was done yet.

"Why does it smell like paint?" Sam asked. How the heck can she smell that? _I _can barely smell that. Then she looked at me, "Danny, what did you do?"

"Come see," I smiled. Sam rolled her eyes.

"I swear, if you're the reason that I had to go out shopping with your mom and Jazz at the shoe barn, I am going to…" she trailed off when she saw the room.

"Danny, this is amazing," she told me, her ranting forgotten.

My mom and sister came in the room next, just as awestruck by the room.

"Wow, Danny, I knew you were going to surprise Sam…but, wow, how did you do this in the time we were gone?" Jazz asked.

"Dad helped," I shrugged, "What do you think?" I asked Sam.

"This is wonderful, Danny," she told me, giving me a hug.

"I'm glad you like it," I replied, kissing the top of her head.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

Danny POV-

"Grayson and Lizzie?" Tucker asked when we told him our choices for names, he thought about it for a second, "Those are they names you guys would pick, aren't they?" he joked.

I shrugged. Then, I looked at Sam.

"We've got a proposition for you," I started. Sam and I had been talking the night before about getting a, as she put it, "killer security system" in the babies' room. And, while I definitely have some knowledge of the technology that would require, Tucker is the only one who knows how to calibrate the system not to target me, or Sam and the babies for that matter. Plus, we need to get the security system in there before my parents get the same idea. I don't even want to know the kind of weapons my dad would put in the nursery.

"I'm listening," Tucker smirked.

"We need a security system, a ghost-proof security system for the babies' rooms, one that won't target me or Sam, or them. You think you can do that?" I asked, knowing full well that he can.

"Are you kidding me? I could nanny-cam a speck of dust. This will be a piece of cake. So what do you want the system to have?" he asked us. I grinned, knowing that he would join the project.

"Well, we're going to get one of those camera baby monitors, it needs to hook up to that, with thermal imaging and an alarm of course, loud enough that we will know when a ghost is in there, but my parents will not. Um…needs to have a ghost shield. It needs to have some form of defense…maybe voice activated from a code word. You got all that?" I wondered.

"All that and more," he grinned back at us, "I'll have it done by the end of the week."

"Thanks, Tucker," Sam told him.

"Think of it as my gift to you," he waved it off, "I have Danny's ectoplasmic signature, but Sam I'm going to need a sample from you too."

Sam nodded, gently pulling a hair off of her head, "Will this work?"

"It should, but I might need a little ectoplasm too," Tucker said, taking the hair from her and putting it in a plastic bag, "And, I'm assuming that the babies will have an ectoplasmic signature between the two of yours, so I'll just blend them together and calibrate it for that too."

Sam made a little ball of ectoplasm between two of her fingers, wiping the sticky green stuff on the inside of the bag and the rest on her jeans.

…

As promised, by the end of the week the security system was finished. And I had sent my parents on a wild goose chase, or should I say wild _ghost _chase, in order to get them out of the house so that we could install it.

"You have six different camera angles, all of which can be accessed from the baby monitor," Tucker told us, clicking the button on the video screen. Obviously, I was impressed. Tucker always manages to come up with something that greatly exceeds my expectations.

Right now, the cameras were placed, one on each of the mobiles above the cribs, so that we could get a good look of both of our babies sleeping. One in the teddy bear that was setting on the shelves I had hung up over the cribs. One at the door to the bedroom, one at the door to the closet, and one at the window, giving us maximum viewing ability without anyone ever knowing the cameras were there.

In addition, every surface of the wall was equipped so that a ghost shield would be able to cover every square inch (Tucker had even been able to isolate and remove most of the glow so it would be easier for the babies to sleep). The cribs themselves were designed to become Specter Deflectors which was he extent of the weapons Tucker was actually able to include in the room.

Part of me was glad for that. When the babies began walking, I did not want them to accidentally come across a bazooka or a missile, but at the same time, I wanted to be able to blow the brains out of any ghost that threatened my kids.

However, Tucker was able to include another cool feature into the room: a built in thermos.

But not the same, small, size of my regular thermos. This one, was wired into the ventilation system, immediately sucking the ghost out of the room, down through the vents, and even, directly into the ghost zone. Much to Sam's disappointment, the ceiling thermos won't work on me, although, judging by the mischievous look Tucker gave Sam, there was probably a button that would turn off the sensitivity somewhere on the remote.

"So when you want to turn on the defense system, just say 'Ghost Defense System on,' and 'Ghost Defense System off' if you want to turn it off," and immediately the green ghost shield flowed down the walls from the ceiling fan in the center of the room.

"The only voices it responds to are, both of yours, mine, Jazz's, and your parents, and to turn it off, requires a thumb print scan," I hadn't noticed the scanner next to the bedroom door, but when Tucker put his thumb to it, because he had already said the command, the system shut down, "Of course, if the system is on, any human can walk in, but if it's someone the system doesn't recognize, an alarm will go off on the baby monitor and on your cell phones."

"Wow, that's great Tuck, thanks! Ghost Defense System on," I tried it for myself and the system automatically obeyed.

"If the alarm system does go off, this is what it sounds like," he pressed the test button on the remote and a loud, blaring alarm immediately sounded from the baby monitor where a 'Warning Unidentified Person in Nursery' sign had popped up, and also from the cellphones in Sam and my pockets.

"Warning! Unidentified Person in Nursery! Warning! Unidentified Person in Nursery!" a woman's voice said over the sound of the alarm.

"Ghost Defense System off," Sam said, placing her thumb on the scanner and powering down the defenses and turning off the noise.

"There's one more command that you guys will want to know," Tucker told us, this time, smirking a little, "Bedtime Sequence activate."

Immediately, the bright windows became tinted, I hadn't even known he was messing with the windows, the light on the ceiling fan above turned off, and a little lamp in the corner shined stars on the ceiling and walls as it rotated, while soft music played from hidden speakers in the walls I hadn't known Tucker had installed.

"This lasts for fifteen minutes and then the music turns off. It becomes bright again when you turn off the system by saying, 'Bedtime Sequence off,'" Tucker told us and the room became light again and the soft music turned off.

"Wow, thanks Tucker," Sam told him sincerely, smiling gratefully.

"No problem," Tucker grinned, although he obviously enjoyed the praise, "Danny and I are going into business together, right dude?"

"Absolutely," we high fived, "But dude, seriously, you could have your own business, you don't need me tying you down."

"Oh I will have my own business, or I'll work for the CIA or FBI or something, but our number one buyer of Ghost Security Systems, will be you. In fact, you're the only one I'm going to sell them to. Of course, I'd get a portion of the sales, and the installation would be up to you. I can't be installing security systems when I'm overseas on a secret mission," he grinned.

Suddenly, I heard my parents and Jazz come home.

"Should we teach them how to use it?" I asked Sam.

"Why not?" Sam shrugged and I went to call my parents upstairs.

Half an hour later, and after explaining to my dad why weapons that "for some reason" target me, would be a bad idea in a room with kids who share my DNA, I think, he finally got it when he agreed not to install the weapons into the room.

"Why all the security precautions?" my mom asked, "I mean, I definitely appreciate your concern for the safety of your kids, and your sudden interest in hunting ghosts, but I don't understand where it came from."

For a moment, just a brief moment, I, almost, considered telling my parents the truth, but, instead, I decided to make something up.

"Well, with you guys being ghost hunters, you probably have a lot of enemies…and I was just thinking how they might use defenseless babies to their advantage. Or they might kidnap them. I just don't want to see that happen," which was not entirely untrue. I noticed Jazz and Sam both sigh, obviously wanting me to tell my parents the truth. But I just can't do it. Especially not now with so much hanging on the line. I can't risk them kicking us out, or, God forbid, doing something to Sam…experimenting on her and the babies. I can handle anything they might do to me, but I would never forgive myself if it was my fault that something happened to Sam or our kids.

I'll tell them eventually, just not today.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

Sam POV-

For the record, it's not exactly fun being pregnant. Looking at ultrasound images, finding out the genders, decorating, buying stuff, eating whatever you want (or don't want but are craving), _that's _the fun part. Everything else kind of sucks.

The next couple of weeks were no exception.

Right now, I'm actually ten weeks, but everyone thinks I'm eighteen weeks, but physically speaking, the babies are about twenty-one weeks along. I _feel _very pregnant. Which I guess I am, considering the doctor estimated that I could deliver in five to ten weeks.

Assuming that I do, that would make everyone believe that I am between 23 and 28 weeks pregnant, making my babies preemies at best. Luckily, the survival rate for babies between this many weeks is generally between 50 and 80 percent, so their survival won't exactly be hard to explain. Of course the fact that they are fully grown and perfectly healthy at the assumed twenty something weeks, might raise some suspicion. However, I suppose we can always make something up about miscalculating the conception or something like that. Of course, then Mrs. Fenton might get on our case, because that would mean that Danny and I had sex more than once.

So, overall, my pregnancy is a mess.

And, to make matters worse, Paulina is officially pregnant, my guess would be about four weeks along. She showed her six positive pregnancy tests to everyone at school yesterday. And completely blew up her Facebook and Instagram with selfies like 'OMG I'm preggo!' which…wasn't everyone already supposed to know that?

I just don't know how all the oblivious people of this city function. Seriously! If Danny was supposed to have bought her pregnancy tests at the drugstore five weeks ago, why would she _just now _be bringing them to school? And if she has, supposedly, known she was pregnant with "Phantom's baby" the whole time, while is she just now, barely, beginning to show?

And then of course, here I am, with a timeline that fits a hell of a lot more accurately, but the people in this town are too stupid to pay attention to that.

Not that I'm really complaining.

But she certainly has gotten a lot of media attention out of it. She is on every local news channel in Amity Park.

"Well, of course Phantom and I are keeping the baby," she told the press.

"Do you have any names picked out?" the woman with the microphone asked.

"We're thinking Missy Celine if it's a girl, and Adam Channing if it's a boy," Paulina said.

"Oh God, kill me now," Danny whined next to me on the couch. Not that I could really blame him, now his reputation would be forever tarnished not only for "sleeping with" the biggest slut in town, but also for supporting those terrible, incredibly shallow, names.

"Would they take his last name or yours?" the interviewer asked.

"Mine," she replied, "Phantom said he doesn't want to remind our child that they are half-dead."

Danny choked on his soda.

"Have either of you discussed the amount of danger that your child could be in with them having such a powerful father?" the woman questioned. At this, Paulina actually seemed stumped.

"Well…so long as he continues to protect the city and keep the bad ghosts out, then we should have nothing to worry about…" Paulina lied.

"Speaking of bad ghosts, there are some that consider Phantom to be an evil ghost? Do you agree with these assertions? Do you think it is possible for your child to be evil as well?" the woman asked.

"No, I don't believe Phantom is evil at all! He is a great person, and just because he is a ghost does not make him evil! I hate how everyone saws such horrible things about the man I love! And as for our child, he or she will not be evil because Phantom is not evil and it will be raised by me!" she exclaimed.

"Hmm…that's the only intelligent thing I think she's said all night," Danny announced, clicking off the TV.

"All night? Try ever," I joked, "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" he asked me.

"Somewhere, anywhere, where Paulina's face isn't all over the news," I told him, towing him out the front door.

We didn't have a destination in mind; we just sort of walked around town. As the sun was beginning to set, fewer and fewer people crowded the streets and sidewalks. We stopped at one of the family owned ice cream parlors in town. I ordered one scoop of mint-chocolate-chip, and one scoop of cotton candy with caramel sauce and gummy bears. Yes, that may be a gross or weird combination, but I'm pregnant, and that's what I was craving.

We sat at one of the tables outside of the restaurant. The night air was warm, but a slightly cool breeze blew.

Suddenly, someone I did not want to see walked by on the sidewalk in front of where we were seated.

My mother.

She paused in front of us. Just long enough for me to know that she had most definitely seen us, that she had most definitely seen me. Danny stiffened, resting his hand on my knee, not sure what was going to happen.

But nothing did happen. My mother just simply pushed her nose higher into the air and stalked off like she had never even seen us, like I had never ever been her daughter.

Maybe it's the hormones, or maybe I'm actually just upset, but tears began to form in my eyes as I licked what was left of my ice cream, although, somehow, it didn't taste as good anymore.

Danny, of course, noticed.

He pulled his chair close to me, close enough to where he could put his arm around my shoulders. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to. There was nothing he could say that would make this situation okay. He had no way of understanding what I was going through so he could not even empathize. But just by holding me and comforting me, he was able to express everything he didn't say.

"Come on," he told me, standing up and helping me to my feet, "Let's go home."

By now, the news was over, there was no more Paulina polluting my screen, for now. There was nothing but me and Danny on the couch. His parents were still out, and Jazz was still working on a project. So we sat in silence, just the two of us.

I cried no tears. I wanted to feel the sadness that my mother had given me, but it just wouldn't come. So, I absentmindedly put my hands on my enlarged stomach rubbing it. Suddenly, I felt something. I rested them there again, waiting to feel it. And, sure enough, I felt the movement again.

"Danny, put your hand here," I told him my sadness forgotten, moving his hand to the spot I had felt the kick.

A few seconds later one of the twins kicked again.

"Wow…that's so weird," Danny mused, running his hand over my stomach.

"Not really, I mean we both know that they're in there," I said quietly.

"I know but…to actually feel them move…it's not the same as seeing them on a picture," he replied.

"You know, they say that they can hear us," I told him, "We should talk to them."

"Um…okay…hi Elizabeth, hi Grayson, I'm your daddy," he muttered quietly. They must have heard him, because I felt several movements at that moment.

"And I'm your mommy," I cooed. They kicked again. Danny and I grinned at each other.

We carried on a one-sided conversation with our twins for about half an hour, until his Jazz came home.

I looked at the clock: 10:30.

It was a lot later than I had expected, and I was suddenly a lot more tired than I thought that I was.

"I'm going to bed," I announced, yawning.

"Sounds like a good idea," Danny agreed, also yawning, helping me off of the couch and up the stairs to our room.

We got changed; Danny didn't even bother to put on a shirt as we got into bed. He kissed the base of my neck, rubbing my stomach.

"Goodnight, Sam," he told me.

"Goodnight, Danny," I replied, closing my eyes and letting sleep take over me.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

Sam POV-

Don't get me wrong, I love Jazz like a sister, but sometimes…I swear…

Take now for instance, apparently, I'm going to be "surprised" but right now, I'm just blindfolded and irritated, while being dragged God knows where by Danny's sister.

"Jazz…" I whined, yes, that may be a little unlike me, but let's face it I haven't been "me" for a while now.

"Calm down, we're almost there," Jazz replied, almost smugly, it that 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' way. Underneath the blindfold, I rolled my eyes.

Finally, we stopped walking and I heard a door open.

"Okay, you can take off the blindfold now," Jazz told me like she was trying to suppress laughter. I rolled my eyes again, and took off the blindfold.

I opened my eyes to the Fenton living room, decorated with light pink and blue streamers and balloons, and full of people. And by people, and by that I mean many girls in my grade and their moms (no boys allowed) which meant…

"Hey, Sam," Paulina said in her, 'I'm-pretending-to-be-nice-to-you' voice.

I tried to turn around and walk out, but Jazz stopped me.

"I didn't send out the invitations," Jazz whispered, "but at least try to stick it out, if nothing else you'll get some expensive baby gifts. Plus, my mom made cake."

I sighed, turning back around to face the baby shower guests, and, attempted to put on a happy face, although I think it turned out more like a grimace.

"Hey Sam," Mrs. Fenton, waved cheerfully, coming out of the kitchen and wiping her hands on her apron, "Surprise!"

"Wow, you got me Mrs. Fenton," I replied, awkwardly.

"Well, don't just stand in the doorway! I made lots of snacks, and I have plenty of party games for us to play," she told me.

The snacks included a pink and blue two-layered cake, pink and blue cupcakes, a Costco-sized cookie, cheese, and veggie tray; a watermelon cut in the shape of a baby carriage and filled with fruit, and little baby booties filled M&M's.

Unfortunately, a lot of the anorexic girls in our grade only picked at the vegetable tray, and I'm sure some of the others were afraid of anything that Mrs. Fenton made (that is, if they remember the bake sale from last year. Let's just say the janitorial staff had to work overtime to clean up the chocolate-chip ectoplasm explosion).

Another way I know that Paulina is pregnant, the girl who usually eats the least out of everyone in the school, had piled her plate with food after the first couple of seconds.

But the games were really the most…interesting part.

And, quite honestly, the baby shower might have actually been fun, if Paulina hadn't been there, but, then again, it's not like she really participated anyway.

The first game was, by far, the most entertaining to watch.

It was called Dirty Diapers.

And everyone at the party was tasked with smelling dirty diapers. Now, they weren't _really _dirty diapers, they were just regular diapers with melted chocolate bars on the inside, and we had to guess which chocolate bar was which.

Paulina would take no part in it, no matter how many times Danny's mom told her that they weren't actually dirty diapers.

Honestly, I think being pregnant gave me the advantage in this game, with my ability to smell everything within a mile radius; I could easily make out the distinctions between the candy bars.

The girl, who came in second place, was a girl, who I barely knew. She had frizzy light brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles and was only slightly overweight, but not fat, just enough to have curves. Although, I didn't miss the popular girls chuckle when she came in second.

"Of course, she knows what all those candy bars smell like," I heard Paulina hiss to her satellites, and they all giggled, "I bet she'll lick them off of the diaper too," and they giggled again.

Wow, I actually couldn't believe there was someone who Paulina mocked more than me, and, honestly, it pissed me off. I gave Paulina and her cohorts a death glare, and they all stopped laughing, and looked like I had just rained on their parades.

"Now Sam," Mrs. Fenton asked, "Am I correct in saying that you and Danny haven't told anyone the names of the babies?"

"Nope, not yet," I replied, "Well, no one except Tucker…so who knows how far the gossip has actually spread," I joked, and, to my surprise, several of the girls, girls who have no doubt been hit-on by Tucker, laughed. Mrs. Fenton cracked a smile.

"Does anyone else know the names of the babies?" she asked the group.

I saw various people shake their heads or mutter "no" in reply.

"Great!" Mrs. Fenton clasped her hands together, "Than this should be fun. Okay we have two lists, one boy's and one girl's. You will each write one first and one middle name from each list on the paper, and give them back to me. Whoever is the closest gets the prize."

So, all the girls took the piece of paper and scribbled down their choices of names from the list. Most of them were way off. Seriously, I think most of the girls picked the most bizarre names on the list just because they thought that I might have chosen them.

We got a lot of Violet's, a lot of Raven's, which, now that I think about it would not have been bad names. We got several Luna's but most people used them as a first name, and most bizzarely, Josequinlynn. And for boys the name choices were even weirder: Eagle (who names their son eagle), and Lucifer, which, might have been a good name, that is, without the connotation.

The person who won was Valerie. She had guessed the names: Elizabeth Raven and Dylan Grayson, which, was still closer than anyone else had gotten. In fact, she was the only person who had guessed "Elizabeth" and "Grayson" at all.

She was awarded with a gift basket filled with girly soaps and sprays and hair products.

"What are the babies names actually going to be?" Star asked once the guessing was over.

"Danny and I decided on Elizabeth Luna Fenton, and Grayson Xavier Fenton," I replied and many of the girls nodded in response.

"Okay," Mrs. Fenton announced, "I have one more game before we open presents: a relay race. You will all be divided up into teams of four and each team will have a different color bib to wear. Two people with take a full laundry basket and a diaper bag and do a lap around the house before passing it off to the next person. If you drop anything, you have to start over. Then, the third person in the line will run the basket to the laundry and put the baby bag on the counter, take a diaper out, and then run back to the fourth person in line. The fourth person will take off the diaper on the baby doll and replace it with a new one, and then they will wrap the baby up in a blanket and run it to the stroller and strap it in. Then all four of you have to sit down on the couch. First team to do this wins."

I was put on the blue team a team with Valerie, Star, and the girl who had won the diaper game.

Star was the first one to volunteer to do the diapering, which surprised me.

"I have three younger siblings," she shrugged, "I'm used to it."

So we let her do that. Valerie and the other girl, whose name I discovered to be Rachel, offered to do the running with the laundry basket considering how I'm pregnant, leaving me, to do the final take off with the laundry basket and diaper bag and to tap Star into the game.

Paulina, one the other side of the room, decided to sit out, leaving Jazz to take her place.

"On your marks," Mrs. Fenton counted down as the first group of runners lined up, loaded down with the clothing piled in the baskets and the bulging diaper bag, "Get set. GO!" she announced waving a purple checkered burp cloth.

The eight girls sped off, running around the house, trying not to drop their clothes while the rest of us cheered for our teams and waited for them to come around and tap the next girl. Most of the girls dropped something, or toppled their entire basket, except ours. Valerie almost dropped a towel that teetered on the top of the stack, but she managed to catch it with two fingers before it touched the ground and kept running. Then she handed the basket off to Rachel who threw the loose towel back on the top of the pile and continued running. Although she might not look like it, she can actually run pretty fast, and made it around the house while most of the teams who had dropped their baskets were just beginning the second lap.

My turn.

I picked up the bag and basket, throwing the bag over my shoulder and carrying the basket with two hands and rushed it to the laundry room, setting it on the designated spot on the floor and taking the bag to the kitchen, setting it on the counter and pulling out the diaper for Star before racing over to her.

Star took the diaper out of my hand and had the baby doll diapered in a matter of seconds, racing over to the stroller and securing the baby inside.

With that done, the four of us raced back to the couch, sitting down when many of the other teams had just started their diapering.

Mrs. Fenton blew an air horn, signaling the end of the game.

"The blue team wins!" she announced. We cheered, and I felt, strangely exhilarated, as we all high-fived each other. And the other teams, who had also gotten into the game, seemed disappointed at loosing.

"Okay, present time," Mrs. Fenton told us, sitting me down in a seat in the middle of a sea of pastel-colored packages.

"Start with the one from us," Jazz beamed, pushing three large boxes at me.

"You guys didn't have to get me anything, you already got us the car," I protested.

Mrs. Fenton brushed it off, "Sam, please. You are having our first grandchildren; we can't help but spoil them. Plus, part of this is from Jazz. Just open it."

I opened the two largest, identical boxes first. They were the same. Fisher Price Baby swing chairs. They both had place for the baby suspended from the top that played music and vibrated while they swung back and forth. But, they were different colors and neither one was pink. And, for that I was grateful.

"Thank you," I told them. Mrs. Fenton smiled and I saw her eyes sparkle with delight.

"Open the other one," Jazz pushed the other box at me.

I opened it up. The box was full of stuff. Diapers, bottles, formula, clothes for both boys and girls, personalized blankets that had their names stitched on the soft fabric. And then two things, the only two things that were actually identical in the box. Two, obviously, handmade (by Jazz I suspected), neon green ghost stuffed animals, again, with their names stitched on them, although not as neatly done as one the blankets. I smiled, giving Jazz a one-armed hug.

Mrs. Fenton laughed, but I could tell something was troubling her.

Then, I started opening everyone else's presents. I got a lot of diapers, clothes, pacifiers, room accessories, toys, and picture frames. These were just sort of the generic things people give at baby showers. And then there's the stuff the moms obviously picked out from their own experiences. A play mat, a baby bath with all the soaps and towels and washcloths to go with it, and a bottle holder for the dishwasher, along with some more bottles, and an insert for a baby to sit in a shopping cart.

When I unwrapped these things, Mrs. Fenton remarked how useful those things had been when she was pregnant.

And then, there's Paulina's gift.

A parenting how-to book, and a million pairs of baby shoes, almost all, for girls.

As if she actually has the grounds to give _me _aparenting book. I mean, yeah, that may be helpful, but the look on her face made it obvious that she did not intend it that way, and I am going to be a _much, much_ better parent than her!

I tried to hide my anger, and I looked over the shoes. Like I said, most of them were girls, which doesn't help Grayson in the slightest, but, more than that, most of them are shoes I would _never _put on m daughter, in various shades of pink and, oh yeah, high heels.

Baby high heels.

Seriously, Danny and I had been joking!

I resisted the urge to glare at her, and, instead, thanked her through gritted teeth as Mrs. Fenton took down the gift on her note pad for the thank-you notes, and I could tell, that even Mrs. Fenton was…unimpressed with the gift.

Finally, all the girls and their moms left, leaving just me, Jazz, and Mrs. Fenton in the house.

We all took one look at each other and burst out laughing. I don't even think we knew what we were laughing about, but it was probably the mere fact that we had survived that baby shower with our sanity intact.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Mrs. Fenton told me through her laughter.

"For what?" I asked.

"Well, for starters, because the shower was so early, but Jazz insisted," she told me, and I gave Jazz a subtle look, "But also, because I know most of those girls weren't exactly in your…social circle, but, well, for one thing, you don't exactly have many girlfriends, and, also…I wanted to check something out," she told me.

Mrs. Fenton checking something out? That could never be good.

"What?" I asked, a little suspiciously.

"Well…purely for scientific reasons, I wanted to see if Paulina, was, well, you know actually pregnant with Phantom's baby," she pulled the little device she had introduced to us when I had first discovered I was pregnant.

"And?" I asked, although I already knew the answer. Jazz and I shared a knowing look.

"0.05, with isn't even a full percent, just a trace amount. She is not carrying Phantom's baby," Mrs. Fenton told us.

"Somebody call the Maury Show," Jazz muttered and we laughed again.

"Well, I knew that all along," I shrugged. Mrs. Fenton paused and looked at me curiously.

"How?" she asked me. _Shit!_ How did I know that?

"Well, even ghosts have their standards," I joked. She laughed. _Phew, moment of panic gone._

"How about we take all of this stuff upstairs?" Jazz suggested. We agreed,

It took several trips and two of us to push each of the giant baby swing boxes up the stairs, but finally, we had everything in the room. Then the three of us hung up, or put away all of the clothes I had gotten.

"It actually was really fun," I told Mrs. Fenton, "I actually enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, even with the popular girls there. And, I think if Paulina hadn't been there, they would have been even easier to get along with."

"Well, I'm glad you liked it," Mrs. Fenton smiled.

Then we moved onto all the other stuff I had gotten: diapers, room accessories, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals and began placing them in the room. And we put the bath stuff in the adjacent bathroom. I draped the monogramed blankets over the sides of each crib, smiling as I did.

Mrs. Fenton pulled the two monogramed ghosts out of the box, frowning.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Well, Jazz, these are both really cute, but did you have to put our grandchildren's names on them? I don't want them growing up thinking that they have the same worth as a couple of awful ghosts," she said.

I sighed internally. Raising kids in this house would be incredibly difficult if we didn't tell Danny's parents soon enough.

"Oh, come on Mom, it's just symbolic. Two kids born into a family of ghost hunters. I meant it to be cute, not to imply anything, and I'm sure the kids won't take it that way, it's not like they are ghosts or anything. Haha, that's just ridiculous. That would mean that—" Jazz was rambling, and lying badly, so, in the most discreet way possible, I elbowed her in the ribs and she shut up.

Thankfully, Mrs. Fenton hadn't noticed her rambling, or my shutting her up, she just held the two ghosts in her hands, looking at them thoughtfully.

"I'm sure you're right," she said finally, placing one ghost in each crib, "We have nothing to be worried about." I swear she gave me a slightly suspicious look, which I returned with one of false ignorance.

She accepted my fabricated obliviousness, and went on unpacking.

An hour later, we had everything unpacked and set up, including the two swings that we had set up and placed in separate corners.

This was when Danny and his dad finally decided to come home.

They loudly came up the stairs and found us in the nursery. Danny smiled taking in all the new stuff that had been set out.

"So, you had a nice baby shower?" Danny smirked.

"You knew?" I asked him.

"Of course, I did," he grinned. He knew that his mom and sister were throwing a surprise baby shower for me and inviting the entire female population of our class and he didn't tell me!

"Danny! I am going to kill you!" I yelled at him, chasing him down the hall, while his family laughed behind us.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

Sam POV-

Right now, I'm 17 weeks pregnant, but supposedly 25 weeks, and, developmentally, 28 weeks, which means that I am now within the 25-30 week estimate our doctor had given us for when I would go into labor.

Honestly, with all that's happened, it's difficult to remember that I have only known I was pregnant for 12 weeks.

And, right now, there is no doubt to anyone that I am, indeed, _very_ pregnant. More pregnant than someone who is supposed to be only a little over halfway through her pregnancy should be.

Also, I think Mrs. Fenton is starting to pick up on the fact that my timeline seems a little askew, just judging from the looks she keeps giving me when she thinks I'm not looking. But, whatever she's thinking, she hasn't shared her suspicions with Danny or myself.

Since Paulina's reveal of her "official" pregnancy, and since my baby shower, thankfully, most of the conflict revolving around my pregnancy has disappeared. And now with two girls pregnant out of the 50 girls in our grade, the teachers are just trying to get to the end of the school year without anyone else getting knocked up.

Of course, they could be more subtle, the four "abstinence/safe sex" assembles we have had since I was revealed to be pregnant, are somewhat more accusatory than they should be.

Anyway, with the end of my pregnancy so incredibly close, it's hard not to be anxious. On top of that, my feet are swollen, my back hurts, and I have to pee, _all the time._

"Sam…I think you should just…you know, relax," Danny told me, always worried that I might be straining myself. I merely rolled my eyes. My feet might hurt, but I cannot get comfortable on the couch or in the bed or anywhere unless I'm standing up, as a result, I continue pacing the floor.

"Danny, I'm not comfortable. I have to stand," I told him, again.

He sighed, "Well, do you at least want to get out of the house? You've been pacing like that for twenty minutes."

"Okay," I agreed, feeling the sudden need to get out of the rut that I had, no doubt, worn into the carpet with my pacing, "Let's go to the park."

He helped my down the front steps of his house, which was actually pretty necessary considering I can't actually see my feet or the steps beneath them anymore.

So, as I suggested, we went to the park. On a Sunday afternoon like today, there weren't very many people around except for the occasional jogger or dog walker, and the kids and their parents playing Frisbee over the hill.

The birds chirped lightly in the trees and I closed my eyes, listening to their cheerful songs.

Finally, when the sun came out and the cool overcast turned into a warm, muggy, haze, we decided to go home. Danny helped me stand up off of the bench, holding my hand.

But…I must have stood up too fast, or maybe I had low blood sugar or pressure or something, but I teetered on my feet, black spots dancing across my vision.

"Sam? Are you okay?" Danny asked in concern.

I didn't reply. I couldn't. My head was throbbing so badly and my vision continued to cloud and darken. I tried to feel for the bench behind me in order to sit back down and wait for the sensation to pass, but my knees buckled and my legs gave out beneath me.

"SAM!" I heard Danny exclaim in panic, but his voice sounded far off.

Danny POV-

Sam just collapsed. I got her onto the ground as gently as I possibly could without injuring her or our children. Something was wrong. Very wrong, I just didn't know what it was. Her breathing was shallow. I called 911.

I didn't know what to do, I knew I could fly off for help, but I didn't want to leave her here.

Considering the size of the town we live in, the ambulance should arrive any minute, so I carefully checked her pulse. It was faint. Then her breathing stopped completely.

Thankfully, I knew CPR from health class.

"Come on, Sam," I muttered frantically as I did compressions to her chest.

I heard the sirens approaching and people began to crowd around where I was giving her CPR, but, of course, no one offered to help. In a matter of seconds, EMS was at my side, telling me to move over and let them take it from there.

They brought out an AED and began to attach the pads to her skin.

The machine beeped, indicating that it was ready to administer a shock and Sam's body lurched as the electrical energy surged through her body. Still nothing.

The machine beeped again, ready to give another shock.

Again, Sam lurched. But this time the machine gave an indication that it was picking up her pulse.

Suddenly, Sam took in a sharp breath and the heart-rate monitor spiked with activity. She opened her eyes, which, for only a moment, were bright, neon green, before changing back to their original amethyst color. Although I don't think any of the EMS team noticed, however, at this moment, it wouldn't matter to me what they did or did not notice. Sam looked around frantically before her eyes finally landed on me.

I was kneeling at her side before she even said a word.

"Oh my gosh, Sam, what happened?!" I asked her. She shook her head.

"I don't know, one minute I'm fine and the next…" she looked around.

"We need to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible," one of the EMS people said to the other.

"Why? What's wrong?!" I demanded.

"Hypotension. Her blood pressure is dangerously low. If we don't get her to the hospital quickly, both she and her baby could die," the woman told me.

Sam looked at me fearfully, I tried to give her as reassuring of a look as I could muster, but, right now, I could barely reassure myself. The EMS team quickly loaded her into the back of the ambulance and I climbed in behind her.

I have never been more thankful to live in a small town. The hospital was only a few minutes away. Sure, it's a small hospital, but they have everything that we need, including a maternity ward, where Sam was immediately wheeled. Doctors scrambled around us.

"She is going to need an emergency C-section! Her blood pressure is already low, and still dropping!" the EMS woman told the doctors who had assembled.

The doctor on hand nodded and turned to me.

"Are you the father?" she asked me.

I nodded.

"Okay, you," she pointed to another nurse, "Take him to go get some scrubs. We need to do this fast.

Sam glanced at me, panic in her eyes.

"It's okay," I told her, "I'll be right there." And with that, I ran off after the other nurse to put on the scrubs, not wanting to waste any time.

In a matter of minutes, I had put the blue scrubs over my clothes and was in in the operating room, standing next to Sam, who gripped my hand tightly. Then they gave Sam a general anesthetic, and she became sedated. I felt her hand go loose in mine, but I continued to hold it tightly, just so I could still feel her pulse. I worried that, maybe with enhanced ghost healing, the anesthetic would wear off and she would wake up in the middle of the surgery, but it held as the doctor's made their incisions. I also worried that her blood might have been tinted green. But actually, there was very little blood, and, although it was still partially green, it was hard to notice if you weren't looking for it, and, with the hurry the doctors were in, I doubt they even noticed.

The doctors worked quickly. With the fear that the babies were under distress, they had to have them out quickly. And they did.

I would say that they had the babies out in less than ten minutes.

The nurses quickly cleaned off the babies. I heard both of them cry, two distinctly different sounds, but both stopped after a minute. The nurses then put tags around their ankles and wrapped them in different colored blankets before handing them to me. The medical staff almost seemed surprised that the babies were nearly full-term, and healthy enough not to be placed in the NICU.

I sat in the chair adjacent to the bed to more easily hold and support them. They were so small.

Both were born with only a little black hair in a swirl on the tops of their heads.

They both had their eyes open, looking around the room curiously, although, several of the nurses assured me that they probably couldn't see much more than my face.

The smaller one, Elizabeth, in her pink blanket looked at me, her brilliant eyes searching my face. Her eyes were somewhere in between mine and Sam's: a light…I believe the color is considered periwinkle.

Grayson's eyes, were exactly like mine, in fact, nearly everything about him looked like me while, Elizabeth maintained more of Sam's features. However, both me and Sam were present in both of them.

I looked up to see that the doctors had finished stitching Sam up just as the anesthesia wore off.

She blinked at the unfamiliar room and eventually found me in the dark, giving me a small smile.

"Danny—" she trailed off when she saw the two babies in my arms. She smiled, wider than I think I've ever seen Sam smile, and I gently handed them over to her. She held them in her arms, just looking at them and they looked back, seeming utterly transfixed in each other's' gaze.

One of the nurses broke the moment.

"I'm sorry, but I need to have the names for the babies for the birth certificates," she told us.

Sam and I sighed and I quickly wrote down the names because Sam's hands were kind of full at the moment.

"Danny," Sam told me when the nurse had left, "You should call you parents."

'_Oops,'_ I thought, having forgotten, in all the excitement, that my parents and sister would want to see their grandchildren and niece and nephew. I stepped out into the hall, dialing up my home phone number.

"Danny?" Jazz asked answering the phone on the second ring.

"Hey Jazz, could you, mom, and dad all come down to the hospital?" I asked smugly.

"The hospital? Why? Is something wrong?" she asked in concern.

"No, nothing's wrong. But you're all going to want to get down here," I replied.

Jazz paused for a moment. "Did Sam go into labor? Are the babies there?" she demanded.

"Yep, the babies are here, so if you guys want to see them, you better get down here quick," I told her.

Jazz yelled to my parents before he had even gotten off of the phone.

"Okay, Danny, we'll be there soon!" she squealed in delight and hung up the phone.

Sam and I and our babies were more to a more…friendly room one more brightly lit and without operating equipment around the bed.

"Here Danny," Sam told me handing over our pink-blanketed baby, "You can take Elizabeth."

I took my daughter in my arms, sitting in the open chair and waiting for my family to show up, and, sure enough, my parents and sister arrived several minutes later.

Sam POV-

The way Danny looked at Lizzie when I handed her over to him, I could tell she already has him wrapped around her finger, as cliché as that may be.

He smiled fondly at him and she looked up at him with wondering, curious, eyes.

I smiled to myself, looking down at the baby in my arms. Strangely enough, Grayson had already fallen asleep.

'_This is going to be our easy baby,'_ I decided as I watched him sleep.

Then Danny's family came in bearing, even more gifts, and Grayson woke up. And, although he fidgeted a little, he didn't fuss or cry.

Jazz and Mrs. Fenton immediately fussed over the babies, each taking one from Danny and I's hands, while Mr. Fenton seemed content to stand back and watch the scene as a whole. Although I did not miss him giving Danny a congratulatory hug.

"It's surprising how healthy they are, after being born this early. These babies are full-term size," Mrs. Fenton pointed out, thankfully, I had been preparing for this sort of question for several weeks now, so the lie was not obvious on my face.

"Well…" I pretended to act sheepish, "I guess we must have…miscalculated."

Mrs. Fenton pursed her lips at the obvious disapproval at the fact that I had just implied that Danny and I had slept together more than just the once when we were "drunk," but, at the same time, she didn't seem fully convinced.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now. They're here and they're healthy, that's all that matters."

I agreed. Watching my new family, and Danny's family together. The love in this room was nearly tangible and could be seen radiating off of everyone's faces.

Yes, for right now, that's all that matters, everything else can wait.


	26. Chapter 26

**Sorry, sorry, sorry, people! I feel bad for not writing recently, I've just been really busy with end-of-the-school-year stuff. So, anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy.**

Chapter 26:

Danny POV-

Because Sam had a C-section, we had to stay at the hospital a little longer than we had hoped (despite the fact that Sam healed extremely quickly). But, finally, we were able to bring the babies home. We put them in their car seats, which, apparently have to face a different direction when they're younger, and drove them home.

Lizzie was being fussy when we pulled up in the driveway, but Grayson was sound asleep. Of course, Sam picked him up and, with a smirk, walked into the house, leaving me to deal with Lizzie. Finally, I got her calmed down, I carried her inside. Every time I pick one of the babies up, I'm afraid that I'm going to hurt them, they're both so small and fragile.

When we walked inside, Lizzie's bright eyes flitted all around the room, taking everything in, even though we had been assured, several times, that the babies couldn't see much more than our faces when we were holding them. But, personally, I think they can see a lot more than just that. I mean, after all, they still have my powers, so they'll be developing a little faster than normal babies.

It's funny, even though my family has seen Lizzie and Grayson with us at the hospital for days, they still gush every time they see them.

Like now, for instance.

Jazz took Lizzie out of my arms, cooing baby talk at her. I didn't even have time to warn Jazz how fussy she was being before Lizzie began to cry. Loudly.

Jazz panicked, freaking out that she was crying (as if that's something babies don't do), and trying to calm her down. My mom rolled her eyes, and with learned expertise, removed Lizzie from Jazz's arms and instantly soothed her.

It may seem weird, but I am soo happy that I got Sam pregnant while we're still living at my house. I would be freaking out if we had to do this all on our own.

"Danny, I think they need to go to bed, it's late," my mom said quietly.

"I'll bet, the nurses said she hasn't slept since yesterday night," I replied, as she handed my now-completely-calm baby back to me.

Gently, desperately trying not to alarm her again, I carried Lizzie upstairs to the nursery.

I set my daughter down in her crib, saying a quiet goodnight, and watched as Sam, did the same with Grayson. Then we switched each saying goodnight to the opposite baby.

"Ghost defense system: on," I commanded, and watched the ghost shield cover the walls.

"Bedtime sequence: activate," Sam added, and the bedtime sequence began to play. Sam and I lightly slipped out of the room, waking across the hall to our own.

"It seems weird," she said, getting undressed for bed.

"What?" I asked.

"Finally having them at home," she yawned.

"I'm sure it won't be weird for long, not once Lizzie starts screaming in the middle of the night," I joked.

"I'll take the first one," Sam volunteered, "I'm sure you're going to have to go fight some ghost anyway."

"Or you could take the ghost and I could take the baby," I grinned.

"Danny, we don't even know if I still _have _ghost powers," she sighed.

Actually, I was pretty sure that she did. For one thing, after they had revived her, Sam's eyes were momentarily green, which had never happened before that. Because, before that, we didn't even think he could transform. Now, I think she can. And I think it has something do to with the combination of a near-death experience and an electric shock (which she had received from the AED), just like it had been for me.

The fact that she healed remarkably fast from the C-section incision is only further proof of my point.

"Try it. Try and transform," I requested.

"Danny, I tried that like a million times that day we were training, it didn't work," she reminded me.

"I know, I know, but I have a good feeling about this time," I begged, she gave me a 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me' look.

"Come on, please," I asked again. She rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Okay, fine, Danny, but I'm only trying once, I'm tired," she informed me.

"Okay, okay, just close your eyes," I told her, she rolled her eyes again before obeying, "Now just focus on it."

"Danny this is silly—" she grumbled.

"No, it's not, now focus," I told her.

This time, she did. I saw the tension in her shoulders relax, the way I had told her to last time we trained, and her eyebrows pulled together in concentration.

Suddenly, a familiar white-blue light appeared, traveling up and down her body. It's weird; I don't get to see it from this perspective very often.

Her comfy sleep clothes (which consisted of one of my t-shirts and a pair of cotton shorts) immediately changed color to black and white and seconds later, so did her hair, changing from its usual midnight black, to snow white, just like mine does.

Seconds later, she opened her eyes. Neon green.

She whipped around to face the mirror.

"It worked," she said, almost like she didn't believe it herself, "I still have ghost powers!" she cheered, happily. She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, before, getting a mischievous look on her face and launching herself into the air.

This time, instead of crashing to the floor, like I had half-expected her to, she flew around my room, before perching herself on top of my bookshelf.

"I need a costume," she decided, I think, mostly to herself. I smiled, imagining her costume now, combat boots and all.

"So who's taking the first ghost, you or me?" I asked as she floated back to the floor and transformed back to normal.

"You're taking the first anything, baby or ghost, I'll take the next one," she said, yawning again and getting into bed.

"Okay," I agreed, climbing into bed beside her. I rested my chin on her shoulder, giving her neck a kiss.

At around three in the morning, Lizzie started wailing. But it wasn't a cry I had ever heard before. For one thing, it was about ten times louder, and it almost reminded me of my ghostly wail. Sam and I immediately sprang out of bed. Sam cast a glance at the screen of the baby monitor.

"There's nothing there," she said.

I looked closer. It was subtle, you would have had to have been looking at it, but the air next to the crib most definitely pulsated, and now Grayson was screaming too.

"Nothing there, my ass," I said, sprinting out of the room, with Sam on my heels. I didn't even bother to open the door, I simply phased through it. For whatever reason, Sam actually opened the door, although I was still too focused on the matter at hand to care. Vlad was looming over my daughter's crib.

"What can I say; she's an excellent judge of character," I said, "I think she gets it for her mother."

Vlad laughed evilly.

"Now step away from my children," I warned, dangerously, my eyes flashing green and my hands glowing.

"Now, Daniel, you don't honestly think I would harm them do you?" he asked, reaching for Lizzie.

In less than a second, I stood inches away from his face, grasping his arm tightly, so quickly, in fact, that even Vlad seemed a little surprised.

"You take one more move towards her and I swear—" I threatened.

"You swear what?" he laughed, "Honestly, Daniel, what can you do to me that I can't do to you?"

I allowed ice to flow from my hand down his arm, effectively freezing it. In any normal human, this would be a case of frostbite by now, and would probably result in the loss of his entire arm, but this was Vlad.

He pulled away quickly, holding his ice-encased arm.

"This is not over, Daniel," he said finally, before disappearing out of the room. Sam and I dove for our children, each picking one of them up. I held my son close to me while Sam held our daughter.

"What happened?" Sam asked, "Why did the security system fail?"

"My guess would be that Vlad has been tampering with it, while we've been at the hospital. We're going to have to have Tucker beef up the firewalls. Until then, I think we should sleep in here," I told her. Sam nodded, handing me Lizzie, until I had one baby in each arm, as she went to get the sleeping bags.

"How did your parents and Jazz not hear that?" Sam wondered walking back in with a sleeping bag under each arm. She dropped the bags to the floor between the cribs and took Lizzie back from my arms. I shook my head.

"I don't know, but my guess would be that Vlad put sleeping pills in their food or something," I told her.

After a feeding and diaper change, both of our children were sleeping soundly again.

"Bedtime sequence: activate," I said, yawning. The music started and the stars swirled around the room as I lay down next to Sam and listened to the quiet breathing of our babies.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

Sam POV-

Danny and I took a couple weeks off of school (staying just under the acceptable number of days we could miss without going to court for truancy. Today is a Friday, and, we would have taken it off too, if we had another option), and now, we're going back.

I must say, I have a little anxiety about leaving the twins, especially after what Vlad pulled a couple weeks ago. Since then, Tucker enhanced the security system. Now, anyone who tapers with it must provide a retinal scan and a DNA sample. I just hope that will be enough.

But fear for the safety of my children is not the only reason I'm reluctant to leave them. It's just that, I have been next to them since the day they were born, and now, leaving them for seven hours a day, five days a week…well, let's just say it sucks.

"Don't worry," Danny's mom assured me (again), "It's only natural that you would be having some separation anxiety, but Jack and I have this completely under control."

That's easy for her to say. We still haven't told her about the attempted kidnapping. Lord knows, if we did, she would probably set up heat-seeking missiles in the nursery.

"I know, I know," I wrung my hands nervously, taking a sip of my near-scalding coffee. I burnt my tongue, but it healed ten seconds later. I glanced at the clock with a sigh, "Danny, we better get going."

He nodded, "Bye mom, bye dad. We'll see you after school."

I would have preferred to fly to school, but that might have been a little suspicious considering that we now have a car, so we threw our bags in the backseat, and Danny revved up the engine.

"You think they'll be alright?" I asked him, nervously.

Danny didn't say anything, he merely pursed his lips. I know him well enough to know what that means: he doesn't know.

"Let's just try and make it through a day of school," he suggested.

I nodded, taking a deep breath.

Walking onto campus had almost the same feeling as the day everyone found out that we were pregnant: they all stared.

Danny and I walked awkwardly to our first period classes.

I got a much different reception than I had expected while we all changed in the locker room. Suddenly, I was surrounded.

"How are the babies?"

"What do they look like?"

"You should have brought them to school!"

"Do you have any pictures?"

I smiled a little to myself, pulling out my cellphone, which was now completely full of pictures, and handing it to Star who stood at the front of the crowd.

"Aww!" she exclaimed, and everyone edged in behind her, trying to see the screen.

"Oh, and here's Danny giving them a bath," I swiped the screen. The image showed Lizzie and Grayson in their own separate baby bathtubs in the guest bathtub, and Danny, soaking wet. He didn't know that he was supposed to use the baby bathtubs, so he had started by filling up the tub several inches high with water. Then he fell in.

It was only after he fell in that I came in and told him what he was actually _supposed _to do: give the babies a sponge bath in the baby bathtubs until they get a little older.

"Cute!" several girls exclaimed, and Star went to a couple more photos.

"They're so little," Star smiled.

Suddenly, Paulina burst into the locker room.

"I'm having a girl!" she squealed happily. And, my babies were forgotten in an instant, as Star handed my phone back to me and the cluster of girls gathered around Paulina, feeding her excitement.

I sighed. Some things never change.

The rest of the day went over in pretty much the same way, students and faculty asking to see pictures of our babies, and wondering how well we were adjusting to being parents.

Finally, after what seemed like an endless day, we got in the car to go home.

When we turned down the block, I would have given anything to go back to my worry-free, somewhat irritating morning. Anything, to not have been greeted by the sight in front of Danny's house: police cars, and lots of them.

And we both knew what they were for.

Danny turned the car, parking it with a screech next to the sidewalk and we were both out of the car, seconds later.

"What happened?" Danny ordered to the police officer who was interrogating his parents. His parents exchanged a look that looked like they were on the border of a meltdown.

"Danny Boy, I'm so sorry. The babies were asleep and your mother was out, and I fell asleep on the couch and…" his dad closed his eyes in guilt.

"What happened?" Danny repeated again, venom lacing his voice.

"Someone broke in and kidnapped them," he finally told his, looking utterly defeated. I know, I should have expected this, I should have known that Vlad would do it. Wasn't me who had first known that Vlad would kidnap them in the first place?

But there is really nothing that can really prepare you for the moment it happens. When they're really gone.

Hot tears or anger rose to my eyes and I couldn't decide whether to scream in rage or break down in sobs, so what came out was a kind of tortured shriek, and I fell to my knees on the sidewalk.

"Well," the police man said uncomfortably, "I think we've got all we need. If we find anything we'll let you know. Please let us know if you find any more information." And, with one final nod, he walked away.

Danny helped me to my feet and helped me into the house because I could barely see through the blurred tears.

"I'm so sorry," Mr. Fenton mumbled in distress, putting his head in his hands and sitting on the couch.

"It's not your fault," I said, regaining my composure. The time for sadness was over, now was the time for anger and rage. But not at Danny's parents. I would be extracting my rage on the one who deserved it. Vlad.

"Yes it was," he mumbled through a choked sob.

"No. It wasn't. Vlad did this," I growled dangerously.

"Vlad?" Mrs. Fenton asked, "I know he's a creep, but that quite a stretch to accuse him of kidnapping…"

"It's not a stretch, it's true," I said with absolute conviction, I looked at Danny.

He nodded understanding my unspoken assertion: we need to tell them the truth.

"Mom, dad, there's something I need to tell you," Danny said seriously, his parents looked up in expectation. Danny closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, and, suddenly, the familiar ring formed around his waist, covering his whole body until he stood there in his ghost form, "I'm Danny Phantom."

I'm not quite sure I will ever be able to explain the reactions that both of his parents had to this sudden realization. Shock, was obviously the biggest one, but underneath of that was several other mixed emotions fighting for representation on their faces.

"Danny…" his mom trailed off, standing up and walking towards her son.

"Before you say anything," Danny told her, "Let me finish. You remember when you first built the ghost portal? And how it wouldn't work?" he asked and they nodded numbly.

"Well, that's because," Danny sighed, "You guys put the 'on' button on the inside."

In that moment, they both seemed to understand.

"So instead of dying, I…half-died, and the ectoplasm mixed with my DNA. And the reason that Vlad was after our babies is because he's half-ghost too, and so are they. They inherited their powers from me," Danny told them.

"But there are so many ghosts who might want to use their powers to their advantage, how do you know it was Vlad?" his mom asked.

"Because," I interjected, "Since Vlad found out that Danny was half-ghost, he wanted him to join him, and become his 'perfect half-ghost' son. And when that didn't work, he tried a lot of…different methods, including cloning Danny. And, since the babies were born, I guess he saw that as new opportunity when everything else failed: to raise them as his children. Also, a couple weeks ago, he tried to kidnap them too."

"Why didn't you guys tell us?" Mrs. Fenton asked, horrified.

"We didn't want you to worry and…possibly amp up the ghost weapons around our half-ghost kids," I told her.

Mrs. Fenton blanched, knowing that is exactly what would have happened.

"So what now?" she asked quietly, after a minute.

"Now,"' I said, with a devilish grin, transforming into my own ghost half, complete with Hazmat suit that I had swiped from the lab, "We get them back."


	28. Chapter 28

**JJ Let me just start by saying, I am so so so so sorry. I have been at camp, where we were able to bring, exactly zero technology allowed, so I couldn't write. But, I'm back now, and, God willing, I'll have an unlimited burst of inspiration so that I'll be able to finish this story and the sequels, yes, I said sequels (a series of one-shots and a story that will focus on Lizzie and Grayson as teenagers). But anyway, I'm sorry again, here's a new chapter. Enjoy.**

Chapter 28:

Sam POV-

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton stared at me, wide eyed, with their jaws practically touching the floor.

Mrs. Fenton opened her mouth like she wanted to question me, but no words came.

So, I answered for them, "Well, obviously, Lizzie and Grayson have Danny's DNA, but, while I was pregnant with them, I shared their blood, which, probably, would not have actually affected me, if I hadn't had the experience that I did before I went into labor."

Mrs. Fenton nodded slowly, understanding.

"So what is the plan?" she asked, finally. It seemed weird, them asking _us _for the plan, but, I guess they understood that, we, Danny especially, had much more experience in this area. Mr. Fenton hadn't spoken since the news about Vlad had been revealed; my guess would be that he was still in shock, or pain, from the betrayal of his best friend.

Which, obviously, I understood, but, at the moment, I didn't have time to empathize.

"Well, obviously, by now, he knows that we know he kidnapped our babies, so the element of surprise is completely out of the question," Danny started.

"Not completely," I interjected. Danny looked at me quizzically.

"What do you mean?" he asked me.

"Vlad doesn't know about me," I smirked. It's why I had walked in the room on that night he was trying to kidnap our babies. As much as I wanted to phase into the room and snatch my children away from him, I knew it was more important to keep Vlad in the dark about some things. So, with every ounce of willpower I had, I walked in, effectively keeping my ghost powers away from Vlad.

"What do you have in mind?" Danny asked, knowing that I had an idea brewing.

"You go and confront him, while I secretly get the babies out," I informed him. Danny mulled this over briefly.

"Okay, that makes sense. Should I call Tucker?" he wondered. I nodded.

"Probably. It's better to have as much backup as we possibly can, if this happens to backfire," I replied. Even though I said "if" I had the growing suspicion that "when" would have been the more appropriate term. I knew there were many flaws in this plan, and, even considering our element of surprise, I figured that this would turn into a difficult situation regardless. It always has before.

I looked to Danny's, silently questioning them about their involvement in our scheme.

Without even a second of hesitation, it was Mr. Fenton who spoke up, his face now set with firm determination.

"What can we do?"

…

Less than thirty minutes later, because we didn't have much time to waste, we were on a mission.

In the back of my mind, I knew Vlad wouldn't hurt our children, at least, not without us being directly in front of them, watching it happen. Also, if he actually intended to raise them as his own children, it would be pointless to harm them, but, the fear was still there.

Danny and I flew to Vlad's mansion, on the tallest hill, looking down over the rest of Amity Park, while, below, in the Fenton RV, Danny's parents, Tucker, and Jazz barreled through traffic, running the smaller vehicles off of the road and onto the shoulder on either side.

Maybe it was a little bold, going at Vlad like this, but seriously, what else _can _we do?

Hovering above the mansion, Danny and I exchanged a nod. That nod conveyed everything we wanted to say, but didn't have time to. It said "Be careful," "We'll get them back," and "I love you," all at the same time. I took a deep breath, turning invisible and going around the opposite side of the house, while the rest of our group took the frontal attack: the diversion.

Now, it hung completely on my shoulders to find them and get them out safely.

But I didn't feel the pressure. Instead, I felt the necessity of finding them.

I phased through the back wall, entering into a long hallway that connected the separate wings of the house, lined with pictures of Vlad, whose eyes seemed to follow you, and, knowing Vlad, I wouldn't put it passed him either. For that reason, I remained invisible.

'_Where are you?' _I thought, desperately, wondering where my babies were. I heard a muffled cry, which I immediately recognized as Lizzie's. But I couldn't discern where it was coming from.

I floated a little more down the hallway, the cries becoming only slightly louder. I pressed my ear up against the wall, and, instantly, realized that somewhere within the walls was the source of the cry. I inhaled a sharp breath, not knowing what to expect. For all I knew, my babies could be _in _the wall, sealed between layers of drywall and plaster.

I passed through where the sound was coming from.

Thankfully, they were not in a wall, but rather, where I had passed through, lead to a secret passageway, another hallway, a darker, windowless hallway, with closed doors on either side. Now the cries were piercing and, exceptionally loud, borderline ghostly wail loud (which, I suspected is where her already developed vocal cords came from).

At the end of the hall, the door was cracked only slightly. I phased my head through, still invisible, taking in the room in front of me. It was clearly intended to resemble a nursery, although prison is probably the more accurate term.

Near the ceiling, were two small windows, only about a foot long and about six inches wide, both of which, had bars placed over them, which glowed with green energy, which, it didn't take long to figure out, was some sort of ghost shield.

The room was painted half pink and half blue, both of which were the extremely stereotypical baby colors and contrasted highly with the dark atmosphere of the room, with, ridiculously expensive-looking cribs on either side.

The floor was gray cement, with no toys or anything designed to stimulate a baby, and would be extremely unforgiving, if Vlad was to drop one of them.

On the pink side, Lizzie continued to wail. And, seconds later I realized why, over her, stood one of Vlad's Maddie holograms. The hologram, while obviously unable to feel emotion or pick my daughter up to comfort her in anyway, stood over her, repeating the same robotic lullaby.

I looked over to Grayson, concerned about his quieter response to the situation.

He was okay, but his blue eyes scanned the room, almost like he was taking it in, with the same look on his face that Danny gets when he is making a plan, I edged a little farther into the room. Grayson's eyes locked onto where I stood, invisibly, and, although I'm practically positive that he couldn't see me, he held his gaze fixed to my position.

With one well-placed ghost ray to the Maddie imposter's back, she dissolved, her lullaby scratching like a broken record.

I became visible, floating over to my inconsolable daughter's bed first.

"Shh, shh, shh," I cooed, "It's okay, mommy's here."

She blinked, and the crying trailed off as she turned her periwinkle gaze to me. I sighed, relieved, and gently, scooped her into my arms, then going to pick up Grayson.

With a baby under each arm, I turned to float out and get as far away with my children as I possibly could.

Of course, I didn't get the chance.

I must have tripped some kind of heat sensor when I removed the babies from the beds because alarms began to sound, and four, ghost proof grates fell down on all sides of the room and one slid over the ceiling. That left one direction for me to go: down, directly where the rest of our rescue party was battling it out.

This meant that my children and I would have to face down their captor before I could get them out.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29:

Danny POV-

It would not have been my first choice to bring my parents into the brawl. In fact, it would not have been my first choice to bring _anyone _into this, but, at least Sam now has ghost powers (and I figured it highly unlikely that she would have sat on the sidelines), but everyone else…especially my parents, who had only just found out about Vlad…I didn't like the idea.

The Fenton RV screeched to a halt in front of the mansion, locking its lasers and cannons on the mansion, as my family and Tucker climbed out. I glanced at Sam, who hovered next to me, giving her a nod, the nod she returned felt almost like a promise, as if to say, "I will save our babies." With one final look, she flew off.

I had no doubt she would find them, it was just _how _she would find them, and what would happen after she found them, which concerned me.

I shook my head, looking down at our group. Vlad, undoubtedly, already knew we were here, just knowing the amount of noise the RV makes. My parents looked up at me expectantly, expecting me to lead, of course I don't really have a problem leading, it's just weird from them.

I was honestly a little surprised about how my parents reacted about…well…me. That's how I had always expected them to react, or at least how I always _hoped _they would react, and Sam had no doubt whatsoever that they would be accepting, but…I don't know, I had spent so much time anticipating a negative reaction, acceptance was just…bizarre.

I phased the five of us into the house where the arrogant son of a bitch was already waiting for us, floating above us, in his ghost form, arms crossed, smirking.

"Daniel, I see you brought the whole family, well, isn't this a surprise, if I had known everyone was coming over I would have laid out the fine linens," he remarked.

"Where our my grandchildren," my mom warned, the Fenton Bazooka on her shoulder, making a dangerous whirring sound as she aimed it at him.

Vlad tsked in a mock-scold.

"Maddie, Maddie, Maddie," he grinned evilly, "I can assure you, they are quite safe, at the moment, and will remain that way so long as none of you do anything drastic. And, I must say, you are much too young to be a grandma."

My dad stepped in front of my mom, scowling at his former best friend.

"Daniel," he sneered, turning his attention back to me, "I see Samantha is not here." For one terrifying moment, I thought he was being sarcastic, like he somehow knew she was here. I managed to cloak my worries behind a scowl, but as it turned out, my fears were unwarranted, as Vlad continued to boast, oblivious to the fact that Sam was in the house right now.

"Was the responsibility of motherhood too much for her? If so, she should be glad I relieved you of such a burden. Think about it this way, Daniel, now you and Samantha can actually have a future without being tied down to two children. If you look at it that way, I did you a favor. They will be raised well, with the finest education money can buy, buy the age of five; I'm sure they'll have their powers mastered better than you, Daniel. But I will have to rename them; I was thinking Dmitri Vladimir Masters and Madeline Rebecca Masters," my mom bristled when he used her name. He was baiting me, baiting us, I knew it, and, unfortunately, it was working. I clenched my fists, gritting my teeth.

Suddenly, I heard alarms sound from upstairs. I cursed to myself, knowing that Sam must have accidentally tripped some kind of sensor. Unfortunately, I didn't go unnoticed by Vlad either.

"Ah, so Samantha is here, is she?" Vlad smirked, "Then perhaps, we should give her a surprise." He pulled a remote out of his pocket. I prepared to shoot the remote of his hand, although I feared he would anticipate my defense. Fortunately, we didn't get to find out what the remote did, because, an invisible force landed a well-placed kick on the back of Vlad's head, surprising him enough that he tumbled to the ground and the remote flew across the room.

Vlad whipped around, immediately, looking to me, wondering if I had done that. In that instant, Sam appeared, holding both of our children close to her chest.

"Surprise," she smirked, but the look in her eyes was murderous.

And, I must say, Vlad did look surprised. I actually took quite a bit of satisfaction in that, that is, until the three of us simultaneously realized that Sam could not defend herself with two babies in her arms.

I dove in front of her, creating a shield as I did so. Vlad had always been stronger than me, so the shield didn't hold for very long, just long enough to block the blast and allow Sam to hand our babies over to the outstretched arms of my sister, while Tucker and my parents charged up their weapons, pointing them at Vlad. Sam and I raised our fists, which glowed green, ready to fight.

Vlad merely laughed, surrounding us, all of us, including my sister who had not quite made it to the door yet, with duplicates of himself.

"I must admit, Samantha's abilities were a surprise, but you will never beat me, Daniel," the copies chanted at once.

"Maybe not alone," Sam countered.

Vlad laughed, "You've had your abilities for what, five and a half, maybe six months? You're even less of a threat to me than Daniel."

He was underestimating her, underestimating us. Clearly, he did not understand the extent that parents will go to for their children. So what if we've only been parents for a couple weeks. It doesn't change anything. They're our kids and we love them and are going to get them back.

Elizabeth and Grayson began to scream, their wails harmonizing in an ear-piercing scream. And that's when Vlad's well-calculated plan dissolved into chaos.

My mom fired off her bazooka, taking out six duplicates directly in front of her, while my dad entangled three more in the Jack-of-nine-tails, constricting them until they dissolved into dust. Sam and I formed a unified attack, taking out the copies in front of us, and then surrounding Jazz, attempting to give her a path out to the Fenton Assault Vehicle.

But Vlad wasn't about to let our children slip out of his grasp just yet. He rose up beneath us, taking Elizabeth and Grayson from Jazz's arms, and flying to the other side of the room. My daughters shrieks could be heard above all else.

The rest of us prepared to fight again, but we all froze when Vlad held Elizabeth and Grayson over our heads by the back of their one-zee pajamas.

I spotted Vlad's remote on the floor, less than five feet from me. I wasn't sure what it did, but maybe, just maybe, it would provide a window large enough for us to save the babies and get out.

I cast a glance at Sam, nodding to the remote. She nodded, understanding.

"Don't hurt them!" she exclaimed loudly, sounding a little scripted (although I could hear just a little of the real fear behind it) not that Vlad noticed her acting, instead, he laughed loudly, taking in the performance. In only a matter of seconds, Jazz and my mom had also begun to play along, while Tucker and my dad seemed to be thoroughly confused. With Vlad's attention off of me, I inched towards the remote, not making too sudden of movements.

"Hurt them?" Vlad questioned innocently, "Now why on earth would I hurt them? I am going to raise them as my own, and I have no purpose for damaged goods. However, you're never too young to learn how to fear authority." For emphasis, he raised them a little higher over his head.

I clenched my fists. I wanted to put a couple holes in his massively large head, but instead, I focused on the task at hand, inching closer to the remote.

"Please Vlad, don't do this, we'll do whatever you want," my mom lied. At this Vlad paused, giving me another opportunity to edge toward the remote.

"Anything? Hmm…" he mused, still not putting Elizabeth or Grayson down. My dad looked about ready to object, but he caught my mom's eye, which forced him into silence.

'_So close…'_ I thought, beads of sweat pooling on my forehead as I closed the distance between myself and the remote.

"In that case…" Vlad began, but he was unable to finish as my fingers closed around the remote. I pressed the red button in the center, and, for one terrifying second, nothing happened.

Then, the explosions started. They began in the upstairs wings, coming closer with each consecutive blast. My breath caught in my throat as I realized, that, had Sam not developed ghost powers and gotten them out of there, these explosions likely would have killed her and our babies. For a brief second I wondered why Vlad would destroy his own mansion, but, then I realized, that he probably had originally intended to rescue the babies himself, fleeing the city, and leaving the rest of us buried under a pile of rubble. But my realization lasted only a minute, when Vlad became distracted by the explosions. He slightly loosed his hold on the fabric, allowing our babies to slip down a few inches, then a few more, until they were freefalling the forty feet from where he had been floating, to the hard floor.

Sam and I reacted, both flying up and capturing one of our babies in our arms. I caught Elizabeth just in time, only a few feet from the ground.

For a change, my daughter was silent as she looked at me with fear-filled eyes.

Only a second later, did I realize that the fear was not because of me.

Vlad descended on me from above, landing a forceful combination of a kick and ghost ray on my back, launching Elizabeth out of my arms and onto the floor. She screamed loudly, but I breathed a sigh of relief. If she was screaming, that meant that she hadn't been killed in her violent tumble to the floor.

Putting myself between Vlad and my daughter, I faced him. Around us, the mansion was crumbling, bit of stone and wood and ceiling crashing to the ground around us.

With rage clouding my vision, I attacked Vlad, pelting him with a barrage of ghost rays. He fired back, but I was able to block every shot in time, deflecting them off to the sides, away from me and from my daughter who was still behind me screaming. Across the room, everyone else was avoiding falling debris, and Sam, who had Grayson close to her, with one hand above her head, creating a shield over everyone else, she wouldn't be able to give me any help.

I flinched toward the Fenton Thermos attached to my belt. All I needed was an opening.

Suddenly a six-foot-by-six-foot piece of sheetrock descended towards Vlad. Obviously, he turned intangible, letting the sheetrock pass through him, but it had left him preoccupied, just long enough for me to unclip the Fenton Thermos. When he turned tangible again, refocusing on his battle with me, I was ready. I sucked him into the thermos without a second of hesitation.

Ignoring his angry shouts from inside the metallic container, I turned around, ready to phase my daughter out of the crumbling mansion.

Suddenly, another explosion went off, this time, only ten feet away, sending shrapnel flying towards me, and, unfortunately, towards my daughter, who had been closer than I was to the explosion. She cried out in pain as the bits sliced through her skin.

I picked her up instantly, knowing that the mansion was one good explosion away from crumbling and, knowing exactly where that explosion would be: directly behind me, at the place where the grand staircases met the foyer.

I phased her out, taking only a millisecond to make sure that Sam had gotten everybody else out.

They were on the lawn in front of the house. I looked at Sam, and, in a second she understood. Locking arms with everyone else, we made them all intangible as the final explosion, the largest explosion by far, racked the mansion, sending out waves of shrapnel as the house collapsed in on itself in a mountain of dust.

When the dust cleared, we became intangible again. I gently, pulled my daughter back from where I had her pressed to my chest.

There were red stains on my costume.

Sam and I gasped, looking our daughter over. Thankfully, most of the gashes had already begun to heal, but the one that concerned us the most, was still spilling blood. It was on her forehead.

"Get her to the hospital," my mom ordered, a Jazz ripped off some of the fabric from her shirt and pressing it gently to the wound. It wasn't doing much good. The white of her t-shirt had become red in only a matter of seconds.

Sam handed Grayson off to my parents, and, as gently as we could, Sam and I flew our daughter to the hospital.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30:

Danny POV-

Sam and I changed into our human forms right before we entered the hospital. We would have enough questions about Elizabeth's condition without throwing the ghost issue into the mix.

Elizabeth had grown suspiciously quiet on the flight over here and it worried me.

We burst in the front doors of the Urgent Care, asking for help. The waiting room was nearly empty, but the few people who were there looked at Sam and I, astounded, wondering what had put us into such a panic.

I had been here a lot, especially when I was younger, before I became able to heal from almost everything. I'd even been here a couple times with Tucker or Sam. But now was not the time to reminisce.

Several nurses came out into the waiting room trying to figure out what was wrong, and, frantically, Sam and I began to tell them our fabricated story about what happened.

The nurses took Elizabeth from our arms, assuring us that everything would be alright as they lead us into the back.

She was then handed over to a doctor, who assessed her condition; he carefully removed our makeshift bandage, only to see that the blood was still pouring out.

"She's going to need some stiches," he told us, as several Urgent Care workers gathered around, taking her to be prepped for the stiches.

Within a few minutes, and still in a blur, the doctors had rushed her away while we were left waiting in the hall.

Silent tears streamed down Sam's face, there was no doubt she was terrified. _I _was terrified. Who wouldn't be? My three week old daughter had just been taken to get stiches in her head because of an explosion.

I wrapped my arm around Sam's shoulders while she held her head in her hands, noiseless sobs shaking her body.

The worst part was, I couldn't help but feel some guilt about it. Maybe if I had done things differently, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe if I hadn't decided to use that remote…

Almost like she knew what I was feeling, Sam straightened up, looking at me. Her intense violet stare was misty with tears and the rims of her eyes were puffy and red. Faint lines of black mascara trailed down her cheeks.

"It's not your fault," she whispered quietly. _How does she do that?_

I sighed. Of course she would say that, she's always trying to make me feel better about things, convincing me that things aren't my fault, but, truthfully, everything that has happened in our lives since we were fourteen has been my fault. Sure, maybe not directly, but, if I hadn't had ghost powers, none of this would ever have happened. The city, probably, would not have been attacked as frequently as it is, all the bad things I've done, even if they were not by my own free will, would not have happened, Sam and I wouldn't have been manipulated into having sex, she wouldn't have gotten pregnant, and, if somehow she still _did _get pregnant, Vlad wouldn't have had to kidnap our children.

"It was my idea," I whispered back quietly, looking down in shame. She put her hand on the bottom of my chin, making me look at her.

She shook her head, "No. Danny, this is not your fault. This was Vlad's fault. You saved her life. You also couldn't possibly have known what would happen. But, even still, if you hadn't done it, things could have been worse." She breathed out the words quietly, hoping that no one would overhear our conversation and question the story we had already presented: that it had been done by her kidnapper, (considering that new of their kidnapping had probably traveled around the city) who we are now telling everybody was a ghost (in order to explain any ectoplasm they may find in her wound).

She _should _have healed by now. Maybe it's because she is so young, maybe it's some kind of cruel twist of fate, but, for whatever reason, she hasn't healed yet. I fidgeted in the uncomfortable seat, looking to the double doors every few seconds, waiting for a doctor to emerge.

The hospital was so quiet, at least back here. I hated it.

I wish there were people rushing around, doing something, anything, to would make my mind wander away from my worry for my daughter.

I wondered what we should do now.

Sure, I had caught Vlad in the thermos, which as now back, and secure, with my parents, but we can't keep him in there forever, no matter how much we want to.

Meaning, that, at some point, he will still be a threat to our kids.

I wondered if we should change our names and move. That might be the safest option, for now, but is it really the most practical? At least here we have a support system, an a_rmed _support system.

I suppose we could send Elizabeth and Grayson away, so that they never learn about their powers. But that would mean not seeing them grow up. And, after almost losing them today, and, after the threat of possibly losing Elizabeth right now, I'm not sure I could bear _willingly_ giving them up for someone else to raise. And then they would have to grow up, wondering why they were different from everybody else, but not actually _knowing _why.

No, I couldn't do that.

And, that's assuming that Vlad never finds them. If I could guarantee that they would never be found, it almost, almost, might be worth it. But I can't guarantee it. And, knowing Vlad, and knowing our luck, he would eventually find them.

Which, once again left us at this impasse.

I suppose the best thing to do would be to keep them here, raise them, and train them to use their powers from a young age, so that they can defend themselves. But it would still be several years until we could teach them anything. Several vulnerable years.

I sighed, slumping (as much as I possibly could in the plastic, armless, chair), and once again glancing at the door. Worrying.

…

After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came out, with Elizabeth wrapped in a blanket. Sam immediately took Elizabeth into her arms.

She blinked up at us, smiling a little.

I breathed a sigh of relief, she was okay. There were several criss-crossing black lines over the wound that I knew were the stiches. It would probably leave a scar, but, so long as she was alright, it didn't matter to me.

We thanked the doctors, taking her home. We didn't have the car, and neither of us exactly felt like flying, so we walked home. We were greeted by no one on the streets, and Elizabeth remained quiet. And, while this was still a little disconcerting to me, I was happy that she was safe.

We walked up the front steps and into the house where my family was waiting expectantly, hoping for good news.

I was glad we were able to give them some.

Shortly afterward, we laid Lizzie and Grayson in their cribs for bed. And we went back downstairs to converse with my parents about what our next move should be.

"What now?" I asked to no one in particular.

No one answered.

"What should we do with the thermos?" Sam added, and my mom stood up to go get it.

Still, we sat in silence.

We were exhausted, all of us. And, after riding the roller coaster of emotions today, battling Vlad, and worrying about Elizabeth, we all definitely had the right to be.

My mom came back into the room, empty-handed. Sam and I shared a look, already knowing what she was going to say, but still desperately hoping that we were wrong.

"It's gone."

**Probably just one more chapter in this story, which will be the epilogue, before I start on the one-shots. The one-shots will basically just be a series of cute parenting stories from Danny and Sam's perspectives. But there will also be some stories about things that happen in their lives too, along with what happens in other character's lives, etc. There really won't be a ton of action in these one-shots; they exist purely to get everyone familiar with Grayson and Lizzie before the next story, which will focus entirely on them as teenagers. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Stay tuned for the epilogue.**


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Epilogue

Sam POV-

"And here we see the debris of former mayor and billionaire, Vlad Master's, mansion. And while no body has been uncovered, it is unlikely that someone could have survived a collapse such as this. Search teams are working around the clock to discover whether the mayor's body is beneath the rubble. Police and investigators are speculating this as a possible ghost, or even, possibly a terrorist attack, considering the wealth of the mayor. It seems the mayor may also have had some kind of secret operation going on, because several secret sublevel floors were uncovered. But, with the devastation, it is impossible to determine what secret the mayor was hiding. With all your Amity Park news, I'm Carla Schaffer. Back to you Chet," the news reel announced.

It was an old episode of the news, a little over eight months to be exact. But, it was still probably the most exciting thing to have happened to Amity Park (aside from ghost attacks, which barely even counted as news anymore). However, despite the age of the news, nothing had changed, Vlad's body had never been found, they could find nothing about his "secret operation" and they could find nothing to tie anyone to the destruction of the mansion. However, we have finally gotten a new mayor. It took a few months, people kept waiting to see if Vlad would miraculously appear, but he didn't, so we held an election. There was only one candidate, so a week later, he was sworn into office, taking Vlad's place. But by now, dozens of conspiracy theories are in circulation, so much so, that it is unlikely that Vlad will be able to show his face, his human face at least, in public anytime soon.

And he hasn't. Through these months, none of us have seen hide nor hair of Vlad. We suspect that it will be years before we do because it is likely that he is planning something bigger. On one hand, this is great. No attacks, no kidnappings, no sign of Vlad, but on the other hand, it leaves in constant worry about when he _will c_ome back. And he will come back, his return is not the question, it's w_hen. _

Elizabeth and Grayson suffered no adverse effects from their kidnapping; at least, none that we know of, and they seem to be developing like normal kids (just a little faster). The stiches from Lizzie's head came out shortly after they were put in, but she still has a scar, a permanent reminder about what happened.

Paulina had a girl.

Her name was, as promised, Missy Celine Sanchez, and she was born a little over a week ago. Paulina milked her pregnancy to its extent, and is now milking Missy's birth. I swear, she has posted over 1000 pictures to Instagram and Facebook in the past week, mostly, all of the same exact thing, because Missy didn't move at all between the pictures.

I almost feel sorry for Missy, having to live with Paulina as her mom.

Paulina is still holding to the "Phantom is the father" story. And, unfortunately, it isn't too hard for people to believe. Missy, looks like Paulina. Same nose, mouth, ears, facial structure, she's even as tan as Paulina. But, one thing Missy did get that Paulina doesn't have, is that blonde, nearly white hair that Paulina had obviously been trying for when she slept with Jacob Erik. Another thing is that Missy has eyes between Paulina's blue eyes and Jacob's Caribbean blue-green eyes, making them a bright teal, that you actually might expect if you combined neon green and blue.

As annoying as it is, we're planning on letting Paulina continue to spread the false paternity of Missy, and let the people of Amity Park continue to believe her.

Why?

One, because it takes any and all suspicion away from Danny and I, and two, who are we to know that Paulina isn't carrying Phantom's baby?

If we announce our complete certainty that Missy is not Phantom's baby, then people, even the oblivious people of Amity Park, will begin to wonder _how w_e know this for a fact.

Grayson and Lizzie have already begun to develop their powers.

You know that seen in the animated short after the Incredibles movie, Jack-Jack Attack, when Jack-Jack begins to float through the walls while she is trying to change his diaper? Well, it's hilarious on the screen, but in real life, it's freaking impossible.

It took, me, Danny, Jazz, and Danny's parents to catch a butt-naked Grayson as he floated through the walls, giggling in a high-pitched voice, probably more at our distress then at the fact that he was flying. He's smart that way. I'm just glad he didn't float _outside _the house, which would have been rather difficult to explain as we chased our floating, naked, but still obviously human, baby down the streets.

Of course, I can't guarantee that that won't happen once they get a little older. We still haven't hit the terrible two's yet.

Overall, I guess I can't really complain. I have two beautiful, smart, talented children, a boyfriend who loves me and has stuck it out despite the pregnancy and despite the fact that we are now raising tow high-strung super-powered babies, a babysitting service (did I mention it's free) that also has access to an intelligent weapons system, just in case, and I have people who actually like me.

Yes, as weird as it sounds, being a mom has made me more popular and well-liked. Obviously, not as popular as _Paulina, _but still. At school, girls talk to me and ask to see pictures. When we have the babies out around town, people from school stop to see them. And, actually, I have developed a close friendship with Valerie and Jazz (though we still try not to have Valerie around the babies for too long at a time, just in case someone decides to float away).

And, don't tell her I said this or anything, but, since she began hanging out with us, Valerie has begun to get a little closer with Tucker too. Now, I'm not saying anything has happened (yet, at least), but Danny and I am predicting a relationship between these two in the not-too-distant future.

Thinking back on it, nearly everything is different since a little over a year ago. Danny and I don't have the same relationship, I don't live in the same house, I now have superpowers too, I have friends other than Danny and Tucker, I have people in my life who care for me the way parents are supposed to. I technically have a sister, who gives advice whether I want her to or not. Oh yeah, and, I'm a mom to twins.

Sure, looking back on it, there are some things I might have changed or avoided (the confrontation with Vlad being the biggest), but, at the end of the day, Lizzie and Grayson are something that I would not change for the world. Even if I could go back to the night when they were conceived, even if we had somehow known that Hatchwork (working under Vlad) was going to manipulate us, having fallen in love with Lizzie and Grayson and Danny since then, I can't say that I wouldn't have gone through with it.

They have been one major step in Danny and my life.

And our journey is only beginning.

**And that's the end. I hope you all liked it.  
The one-shot series will be called "Growing up Phantoms" and I should have the first one-shot posted by 7:00 p.m. (I think it's central time) 6/23/13  
**


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